After Kajal Aggarwal unveiled her wax statue in Singapore, many people are asking why Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Vijay, Nayanthara and other popular stars do not have their wax statues at Madame Tussauds.
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum, which was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussauds in London in 1835. Today, it has smaller museums in 17 major cities across the globe. These museums display the waxworks of famous historical figures, popular celebs from film, television, sports, music and politics from around the world. They are the major tourist attractions in the cities they are located in.
A celebrity neither pays nor gets paid for his/her wax statue. But it is seen as an honour to have the statue displayed at Madame Tussauds. However, in recent years, a million-dollar question is doing rounds in the minds of many people across the globe. How does Madame Tussauds decide which celebs should be immortalised each year?
Neil Linssen had once told in an interview that they consider visitors' requests and the celebs, who pass fame test. The Creative Studios Development Manager at Hollywood had told Patch, "We do look at visitor requests first. We have a kiosk downstairs that asks who you'd like to see, and we tally up those numbers. That's the first thing we look at."
Neil Linssen had added, "We look at what the needs of the museum are. Sometimes a room feels like it needs another figure, or it's a little weak in some areas, so we might look at who would work in that area. Whoever we pick, we want to make sure they've passed the fame test—that they've been around a while because it's a big investment for us. We don't want someone who's a flash in the pan if we can help it.
Madame Tussauds has immortalised around 35 celebs from Indian cinema, music, sports and politics at its museums in London, Sydney, Delhi, Bangkok, Hong Kong and New York. Narendra Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sachin Tendulkar, Asha Bhosle and Abdul Kalam are some of those desi celebs to get this honour.
Prabhas, Mahesh Babu and Ajith Kumar are some of the south Indian celebs, who have had their wax statues. Kajal Aggarwal is the latest southern celeb to join their league. The actress unveiled her wax figure at Madame Tussauds Singapore. She is also the first actress from down south to have this honour.
South Indian Industry boasts of many stalwarts like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Shivaji Ganeshan, MGR, NTR, Krishna, Chiranjeevi and Vijay. There are also some actresses like Nayanthara, Trisha, Anushka Shetty. All of these stars have not only made an enormous amount of contribution but also got global recognition. For the last couple of years, their fans have been asking why Madame Tussauds is not getting their wax statues to display in its museums.
