He represented India at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan. However, he couldn’t perform well because he was given new shoes just two days before the tournament. Tomar was a contemporary of Milkha Singh and went on to become a seven-time national steeplechase champion.

After earning glory in sports and the Army, Tomar was forced to take early retirement when he learned about his family’s land dispute with his uncle, Babu Singh. He initially tried to resolve the issue through lawful means, approaching the panchayat, the collector, and the courts, but was beaten down by rampant corruption at every level. Even his medals and certificates were insulted by those in power.

However, when his mother and son were beaten up by his uncle and his men, Tomar decided to take the law into his own hands. He formed his own gang of 28 dacoits to seek revenge. After his brother was killed in 1977, Tomar and his gang killed nine men in Pawa Pota village near Gwalior to avenge his death.

The authorities then announced a Rs 10,000 bounty on his head. In 1981, he was finally cornered and shot dead in an encounter that reportedly lasted 12 hours. As per several accounts, a wounded and dying Tomar begged the police for water but they refused and left him to die.

Tigmanshu Dhulia discovered Paan Singh’s story during Bandit Queen shoot

Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia first came across Paan Singh Tomar’s life while working as a casting director on Bandit Queen. He read an article about him and decided to make a film based on his life. However, it wasn’t easy — Tomar’s story had no official records since he had become an outlaw after his Army career.

Speaking to Rediff, Tigmanshu said, “I could not write this film sitting in a closed room because it needed research, and no producer was ready to invest in research since Bollywood does not encourage such discipline.”

He finally found support from UTV Spotboy, which agreed to fund his research. Dhulia’s team met Tomar’s wife, Indra, and his son, though convincing them was not easy. “We met a couple of dacoits who told us to make the film on them because they had kidnapped many people and committed many murders. We also met Mohar Singh, a former dacoit, to get information. On the way back from our meeting with Mohar Singh, we met a guard who told us how Tomar was killed and related stories,” he said. The filmmaker revealed it took him almost two decades to complete his research.

Irrfan got injured and frustrated during Paan Singh Tomar shoot

The physically demanding shoot took a toll on Irrfan Khan, who suffered multiple injuries while filming. The actor also underwent rigorous training in steeplechase under national coach Satpal Singh. Speaking to Film Companion, Irrfan recalled, “While shooting Paan Singh Tomar, I was getting hurt so many times you wouldn’t believe it. And without any rhyme or reason. I am just walking and I miss a step, and suddenly my back goes. I mean my back is not fragile. I have done so many things, and I am not weak from my back, or a tennis ball hits my eye while playing a simple game of cricket on set. I tore my ligament during the shoot… so many incidents happened. So that film was testing me in a different way completely.”

He admitted that the difficulty he faced mirrored Tomar’s real-life struggle — a man who rose from obscurity through hard work but found fame only after resorting to rebellion.

“That was the film which exactly behaved as what happened to Paan Singh Tomar in his life. He was a national champion, but his name was not there at all when we started researching about him. Nobody knew him. Same thing happened with the movie, it was made and everybody who had seen it was loving it before it got released, but it was not getting released. We got so frustrated that when after 8-9 months after the shoot, people used to ask me about the film, I used to say, ‘I forgot Paan Singh, don’t talk to me about it.’”

Paan Singh Tomar was made on a shoestring budget of Rs 7 crore

The film was eventually made on a limited budget of Rs 7 crore and was completed in just 65 days. It was shot across the Chambal Valley, the jungles of Dholpur, Jim Corbett National Park, Roorkee (where Tomar was posted), and Dehradun.

When Paan Singh Tomar finally released after a delay of two years — with no major publicity except one poster in Lokhandwala showing Irrfan running with a money bag — it became a sleeper hit purely on the strength of its story and performances. It earned over Rs 17 crore and receiving widespread critical acclaim. The film was award Best Feature film award at the 60th National Film Awards, and Irrfan bagged the Best Actor award