Bollywood has changed a lot in the past decade, and yet it is going through the same circle. With the changing audience tastes, action movies are back in style, and every actor worth his or her salt is getting back to action. It all started with Salman Khan’s Wanted, which he followed with Dabangg. At the same time, Ajay Devgn came up with Singham and now John Abraham is getting along with Force. Now, there are three more action movies in the offing, Salman Khan’s Dabangg 2 and Wanted, then hi Ek tha Tiger and Sher Khan, and Akshay Kumar’s Rowdy Rathore.  Now, stylized action is the name of the game. However, there was a time when action did not mean six packs, and men did not know what waxing their chests was! We look at the top five action heroes before Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty came into the fray.

1. Dara Singh:

Dara Singh is the first and only action hero in Bollywood who actually has a wrestling background. He was an action hero when the action scenes were actual wrestling sequences between the hero and the villain. Most of the movies during Dara Singh’s time were set in the medieval and rural land, so there were not many chances of sci fi.

Though Dara Singh did a lot of movies in Bollywood as well as for Punjab, he is most well known for his role of Hanuman in the television serial Ramayan. At that time, when prosthetics and other type of makeup were not so prominent, he was the only person in the whole film industry who could have played the role of Hanuman in Ramayan. And that, my dear friends, is a telling tale of India’s first He Man, Dara Singh.
He is also well known for playing Amitabh’s father in Mard, where he plays an old king who is a revolutionary against the British system. It were roles like these that made Dara Singh the macho man that he was, and he is still active in the television circuit as judge. His last role was in Jab We Met, where he played Kareena Kapoor’s grandfather.

2. Sunil Dutt:

Most people would remember Sunil Dutt as the lovable, disciplinarian papa in Munna Bhai or even the urban hero in many a movies that he did in the seventies and the sixties. However, Sunil Dutt has his pack of movies where he played the brawny and strong dacoit or action hero, who would lay the evil villains to waste.
What worked best for Sunil Dutt was the furrowing brow and the dark, menacing look that he had perfected in his time, shades of which can today be seen in his son’s, Sanjay Dutt’s eyes.  Even after his son became an actor in his own right, Sunil Dutt played the elder generation of action with quiet elan, especially in movies like Parampara, where he was paired with his son Sanjay Dutt, but they did not have any scenes together, before Munnabhai MBBS.

3. Dharmendra:

Before there was Sunny Deol, there was Dharmendra. Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol have more or less written the history of Bollywood action cinema between them. Dharmendra brought action to the fore and is said to have one of the finest physiques in the film industry during his roles in movies like Sholay, Ram Balram, etc.
Dharmendra has been in the film industry since more than forty years now, and has played all kinds of roles, right from protagonist, second hero, first hero, supporting roles, and even roles of fathers and grandfathers. While most would consider his role in Sholay to be the most memorable, he has worked in what would be called different cinema in movies like Satyakam. He also had a great cameo in the movie Johnny Gaddar, where he played Neil Nitin Mukesh’s mentor.

4. Sunny Deol:

No list about action in Bollywood can be complete without Sunny Deol. Dharmendra’s son, Sunny Deol roared onto the box office with the debut movie Sunny, and went on to make several action romance movies which were staple of the trade back in the eighties. However, he changed the way people looked at action cinema with Ghayal, for which he won the National Award and several Film Fare awards. Sunny Deol’s career was never the same, and till date is considered to be one of the finest action heroes in Bollywood.
Sunny Deol acted in several action movies in the eighties and the nineties, and went on to bring stylished action movies to the fore in the double ohs.  He acted in some intense movies like Ghatak, Ziddi and Arjun Pandit. He also acted in some patriotic movies like Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, which was one of the India’s most successful movies before movies like Ghajini made the rounds.

His role was also critically acclaimed in the family starring movie Apne, where Dharmendra, Bobby Deol and Dharmendra shared screen space for the first time, and then went on to act in Yamla Pagla Deewana, which was one of the biggest successes of 2010. The three will now be seen in a Yamla Pagla Deewana sequel, where Sunny Deol is busy acting in the Ghayal sequel, titled Ghayal Returns. Vidya Balan was already been signed up as the female lead for the movie Ghayal Returns.

5. Sanjay Dutt:

Granted that Sanjay Dutt nowadays does comedy roles, but there was a time when Sanjay Dutt was one of the most brutal action heroes in Bollywood. He also played quasi gray characters, and was the first to play an out and out gray character in Khalnayak. The only issue was that Khalnayak was so much of a pulp movie that it did not make a mark on the classes. Sanjay Dutt is known for his action movies like Khalnayak, Aatish, Sadak, etc. He is also known for creating hair styles and a regeneration of gyms with his physique in movies like Aatish and Sadak.

Today Sanjay Dutt has changed a bit of his acting tone and has gone ahead with comedy movies. His last out and out action movie was Musafir and Tathastu. In Musafir, he played a gray character of a Don who was after Anil Kapoor’s character’s life. In Tathasthu, he played the role of a father whose son was refused admission in an hospital, and therefore was forced to take the entire hospital hostage. He also played the main role in Payback, which was loosely inspired from a Colin Farrel movie, where Sanjay Dutt took a businessman hostage in a phone booth. All of these movies did not make an impact on the silver screen. His last movie was Chatur Singh Two Star, which did not do well at the box office. He will now be seen in a cameo in the Shah Rukh Khan movie Ra. One, and will also be seen in the role of Kaancha Cheena in the 2012 remake of the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Agneepath.

Bonus:

Amitabh Bachchan :
When a man gets actor of the century when he is still alive, there is something unique in him. Amitabh Bachchan, who first made his entry into movies in the seventies has acted in all kinds of movies, but is still most remembered for his action movies, and the angry young man image. He acted with Dharmendra in the unforgettable Sholay, and then went on to act in several action movies like Kaalia, Shahenshah, Desh Premee, Toofan, Ajooba, etc. He was also one of the first action heroes to play superhero characters in Toofan and Ajooba.
The reason that Amitabh Bachchan is a bonus in the list is because he is the evergreen character. Even though he is pushing seventy, he recently acted in an out and out action movie, Bbudhah Hoga Tera Baap.  His last full-fledged action movie was Ek Ajnabee, followed by Khakhee, where he had some scintillating action sequences with younger heroes like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn.

Amitabh Bachchan is still very much active in the film industry and plays all kinds of roles. His last starring role was in Aarakshan, wher he played the role of a disciplined principal of a university, who provided spiritual support to the reservation quota in India. He is also one of the first actors who have tasted success in television with Kaun Banega Crorepati, an Indian version of who wants to become a millionaire, which is also one of the most successful and famous quiz shows in modern India.
These are the top five action heroes in Bollywood cinema before Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty. Think we forgot some of them? Tell us all about it in the comments section below!