Athlete Turned Dacoit Paan Singh Tomar’s Photo From 1976 Goes Viral On Social Media

Paan Singh Tomar, directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, will always be remembered as one of the finest films in the history of Indian cinema. The superbly crafted film primarily worked because of male lead Irrfan Khan’s flawless performance. Tigmanshu was also appreciated for directing a film which linked sports, the brutalities of life and social issues. Apart from these aspects, this film also shed light on the life of Paan Singh Tomar. Audiences were left awestruck to know about how a seven time national steeplechase champion Paan Singh Tomar turned into a dreaded dacoit.

The film narrated the circumstances under which Paan chose a different path in life.

His name has again dominated the headlines after one of his photos was recently tweeted by the page, Indian History Pics. The caption read, “Athlete Turned Dacoit Paan Singh Tomar In 1976”.

Social media users loved the picture and came up with a slew of tweets appreciating the film and Irrfan’s acting in the biopic as well. One user tweeted that Paan’s name will be remembered forever because of Irrfan’s stellar performance in the film.

Another came up with a photo of Paan Singh standing among other soldiers of the Indian Army. Alongside the picture, this user also tweeted one of the very famous dialogues from the biopic, “Beehad mein Baaghi hote hain, Dacait milte hain Parliament mein!”.

Paan Singh Tomar was born on January 1, 1932. He was a champion sportsman and national level athlete in the 1950s and 60s. He even attained fame for representing India at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games. Paan Singh’s national record of running 3000 meter steeplechase stood for a decade and he was at the prime of his career. Soon he became infamous as a dacoit after a piece of land, which rightfully belonged to him, was grabbed by his cousins. In 1981, Paan Singh was finally shot dead by police officer Mahendra Pratap Singh Chauhan in an encounter.