Emile Czaja

Emile Czaja, popularly known as King Kong, was a Hungarian-Australian professional wrestler who became a prominent figure in India both in the wrestling arena and on the silver screen. With his extremely bulky physique and brute strength, he captivated audiences worldwide, especially in the Indian subcontinent, where he competed against some of the most legendary wrestlers and later became a recognizable face in Hindi cinema.

Born in Hungary in the early 20th century, Emile Czaja trained extensively in freestyle wrestling and strongman competitions. He traveled across Europe and Asia where he competed in various wrestling circuits and later established himself as a formidable contender in the world of wrestling. He was given the name King Kong after he played the role of a character by the same name in a Hindi film. 

In 1937, he arrived in Bombay, India, along with a wave of Western wrestlers who were eager to test their skills against India's top heavyweight champions. Among his contemporaries were Jeji Goldstein of Palestine, Edmond Von Kramer of Germany, Tony Lamaro of Italy, Emil Koroshenko of Hungary, George Zbisco of Poland, George Constantine of Romania, and Arty Counsel of Australia. They were later joined by five-time world champion Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis and Ted Thye. Many of these challengers were interested in taking down the legendary Gama Pehelwan, only to be disappointed later when they got to know that he had retired. However, they faced a new generation of Indian wrestlers, including Imam Bux, Hamida, Goonga, Yankapa Boolar, and Young Gama. King Kong wrestled several of them especially against Goonga where he drew the match before earning an opportunity against Hamida Pahalwan. These two encounters marked the only pre-war defeats of King Kong, but they did not diminish his reputation as one of the world's top-ranking wrestlers.

After World War II, wrestling experienced a surprising attraction in Pakistan, particularly from 1947 onward. In 1952, Kong returned to Bombay from Singapore and partnered with businessman Goostad D. Irani who was known as "The Mat Mogul of India." Their collaboration led to the organization of a successful wrestling tournament in Bombay which revitalized the sport. Under Irani's promotion, wrestling flourished throughout India and fostered a healthy group of community interested in the sport of wrestling. 

On 16 November 1955, in the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA), King Kong teamed up with Tiger Joginder Singh to defeat JWA founder Rikidōzan and Harold Sakata in a two-out-of-three falls tournament final. This win made them the inaugural All Asia Tag Team Champions. However, the team eventually split, and they vacated the title. Just days later, on 22 November 1955, Rikidōzan defeated King Kong to claim the inaugural All Asia Heavyweight Championship. Kong’s matches against Hamida, Goonga, Aslam Pahalwan, Seelie Samara, Tor Johnson, and Tiger Joginder Singh remain significant in wrestling history and are still recounted by enthusiasts of the sport.

However, it was his bouts with the young Indian wrestler Dara Singh that brought him immense popularity in India. The epic clashes between King Kong and Dara Singh were highly publicized and attracted massive audiences, fueling the growing wrestling culture in India. These matches were often staged as dramatic showdowns, where the strength of the giant King Kong was pitted against the agility and technique of Dara Singh. In one of the iconic fights held on December 12, 1956, between Dara Singh and King Kong, it was Dara Singh, weighing 130 kg, who knocked out King Kong, weighing 182 kg, by almost lifting him over his head. This move of Dara Singh was met with roaring applause from the audience including the then Soviet Union Premier Nikolai Bulganin.

As professional wrestling became intertwined with entertainment, King Kong’s heavyweight personality caught the attention of Indian filmmakers. His transition into Hindi cinema was seamless as his wrestling background and physicality made him the perfect choice for villainous roles in action-packed films. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he became a staple in films that featured high-energy fight sequences and dramatic showdowns.

In Hindi films, he mostly played himself. It was through Babubhai Mistry’s King Kong (1962) that he was rechristened with the name of King Kong. In this film, he played himself in a role that capitalized on his fame as a wrestler. To capture the wrestling rivalry between Dara Singh and King Kong cinematically, filmmakers mostly pitched these two personas on-screen to generate excitement and spectacle amongst the viewers. Beginning in King Kong (1962), Czaja mostly played the role of a brute wrestler or strong henchman who was confronted with the might of Dara Singh. Other films where he appeared are Faulad (1963), Hercules (1964), Aaya Toofan (1964), Tarzan and King Kong (1965), and Hum Sab Ustad Hain (1968).

On May 12, 1970, while traveling back to Singapore after a match in Penang, Malaysia, King Kong Czaja was severely injured in a car accident. He succumbed to his injuries four days later at the age of 60.

While Emile Czaja, aka King Kong, did not enjoy the same level of stardom as Hindi cinema actors, his contribution to Indian cinema and wrestling remains significant. He was one of the first international wrestlers to successfully cross over into Indian films, paving the way for other athletes to follow a similar path.