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How much does an Amitabh Bachchan cost? Just $ 30,000 ! How much does a Shah Rukh Khan cost? Well, nearly five times the amount—-$ 150,000. Before Big B’s fans bash me up, let me confess that what I am referring to is the making costs of wax statues of these two famous stars for the Wax Museum of Madame Tussaud’s in the U.K. Shah Rukh Khan’s likeness done in 2007 cost three times as the money spent on Big B’s in 2001. If you consider the purchasing power of the dollar, Mahatma Gandhi’s wax statue, the very first of an Indian installed in the 1960s, is said to have cost a bare $ 3000 , equivalent of $ 100,000 today. The Wax Museum is the latest business—-after London’s department store Harrods—-to cash in on a craze for the Indian film genre. Shah Rukh followed Amitabh Bachchan into the museum which also has a model of Aishwarya Rai. They have proved to be two of the most popular exhibits, with guests queuing to have their photographs taken along side the two stars. "When we unveiled Amitabh Bachchan some six years ago, we saw a near 40 per cent increase in the Asian visitors at Madame Tussaud’s. We also get hundreds of letters a week with people asking to see the statues of Aishwarya Rai ( already kept) and Shah Rukh Khan ," as per the publicity director of the museum. With this SRK becomes the third Indian actor to be included in the wax hall of fame after Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. He thus becomes the eighth Indian, following Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P.V.Narasimha Rao. London’s number one attraction, Madame Tussaud’s, has been visited by over 200 million visitors since it opened 200 years ago. The founder of the wax museum was Madame Tussaud, originally named Marie Grosholtz, born in 1761, into the family of an ordinary housekeeper in France but rose to become a Royal Tutor, master model maker and thriving business woman. Fleeing to Britian to escape the French Revolution of 1783, she cashed in on her skills as a wax statue artiste to start the Tussaud’s Museum. Currently over 2.5 million people a year visit Madame Tussaud’s, mingling with celebrities of all types, from sports heroes like Muhammad Ali to Hollywood celebrities, to models like Naomi Campbell and politicians like Bill Clinton. With 400 statues in its museum every year, it unveils a total of just 15 new ones, some of the dated "celebs" being discarded. It takes six months, hundreds of precise of measurements, 2,400 lbs of wax and thousands of dollars to make one of Madame Tussaud’s wax portraits. After an exact research
and study the subject’s head is modelled in clay. No less than 300
precise measurements of his limbs, eyes, nose, nails, eyebrows, etc
were taken during a day’s sitting. As is The body and limbs are made from fibre glass, mounted with the head and the hands and suitable costumes. It is ready to be placed in the museum. The female subjects are quizzed about the cosmetics they use to ensure that colours , tones and textures are perfectly matched. Many donate their own clothes. If not, then Tussaud’s specialist wardrobe assistants get into the authenticity act. The Australian singer Kylie Minogue is the only person with four statues at the wax museum. Only the British Queen has more `85five statues! Minogue’s is also the very first perfumed statue at Tussaud’s. The statue gets a daily spray of her own fragrance called Darling to keep the viewers keyed up. As per newspaper reports Shah Rukh Khan’s image also will have a daily spray of his favourite perfume. Madame Tussauds, the world renowned wax museum, in addition to its branches in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, has plans to open shop in Bombay, featuring replicas of Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan and sport heroes like Sachin Tendulkar. — MF
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