Biopic on Bhiwani legend: John to play Hawa Singh

CHANDIGARH: After Mahavir Phogat, story of another sports icon of Haryana will come alive on the sliver screen. Bollywood is set to revisit the life of Haryana boxer Captain

Hawa Singh

, who was the national heavyweight champion for 11 years and back-to-back Asian Games gold medallist - a record that remains unbeaten - with a biopic in which actor John Abraham will play his role.

The boxer from a nondescript village Umarwas (Bhiwani) never lost a bout in any of the top events. "But, even then he was not allowed to participate in the Olympics in 1968 and 1972 because of politics in the Indian Boxing Federation," says his son Sanjay Sheoran, who is a former national champion of boxing.

Those days, Hawa Singh was a hawildar in the Indian Army. "Then, it was not easy for a soldier to raise such issues being part of a disciplined force," added Sheoran, 44. However, the family is not too keen to discuss in detail the politics that created obstacles in his way to Olympics.

For the movie, John will learn to hook, jab and cut directly from Sheoran to play the role of Singh - heavyweight pugilist known as the father of Indian boxing. The biopic intends to capture the legendry boxer's struggle and his achievements in detail.

"John is fittest person for the role because like Singh, he is also six-feet-one inch tall. The shooting of the movie is likely to start in October," producer of the movie, Sam Fernandez, told TOI. The shooting will be mainly done in Hawa's native village Umarwas, Bhiwani town, Delhi, Vaishnodevi in Jammu and Kashmir, and Thailand. Sheoran and his daughter Nupur had recently gone to Mumbai to meet Fernandez and John.

Sheoran - winner of Haryana's biggest honour for sports, Bhim Award - says he might train John at Bhiwani, where he runs Captain Hawa Singh Boxing Academy.

The Army man's son was the national champion from 1992 to 1994, in different weight categories. Nupur, 17, also won a gold medal in the national boxing meet held in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh in 2015, in 75kg category.

The idea of a movie has come at a time when Sheoran is leading an agitation to demand the formation of Boxing Federation of India (BFI). The boxers feel that the delay in the formation of the apex body will adversely affect their morale ahead of Rio Olympics. They even staged protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

Hawa Singh's father Kinka Ram was a village-level wrestler. In 1956, at the age of 19, Singh enrolled into the Indian Army. He competed in boxing championships at different levels before winning the Western Command title in 1960. He defeated the then champion Mohabat Singh in the final. From 1961 till 1972, he was the undisputed king of heavyweight boxing in India. He was honoured with the national top honour Arjuna Award in 1966.

"Bhiwani became hub of boxers because of efforts of Captain Hawa Singh," says Ashok Siwach, an office-bearer of Bhiwani Boxing Federation. Bhiwani, which is known as 'Little Cuba' of India, has produced well known boxers like Olympic medalist Vijender Singh, Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Manoj Kumar.

In 2000, Captain Hawa Singh was conferred upon prestigious Dronacharya Award. However, he died just 15 days ahead of the function, where he was to receive the award from the President of India.

Long struggle and a longer list of achievements

The story is likely to depict the struggle of Hawa Singh, son of a small farmer, who not only won the Asian Games heavyweight title in Bangkok in 1966, but also went on to retain it in the next edition of the games in Manila. After joining army in 1956, he competed in boxing championships at different levels before winning the Western Command title in 1960. "Nobody has been able to break the record of my father, who had clinched the national championship for 11 straight years from 1961 to 1972," says his son Sanjay Sheoran.

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