After a debacle 2010, 2011 has started with a bang for Hrithik Roshan whose wax statue was unveiled at Madame Tussauds on 20th January. With his glowing family by his side, Hrithik couldn’t contain his excitement at being paid such a big tribute. He joins the list of other Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan to hog a spotlight in the famous wax museum in London. Hrithik’s body double in the wax museum sports a pair of jeans and sleeveless open shirt that shows his well chiseled body, envy of a multitude of men around the world. With the movie Kites, Hrithik’s popularity has spread manifold in the western countries despite the movie flopping badly.
However, it was Amitabh Bachchan who led the Bollywood bandwagon at Madame Tussauds. Bollywood today is known as the biggest film industry in the world and with its growing popularity and the unprecedented excitement it generates across the globe, it was natural for Madame Tussauds to add Bollywood section to its London branch. London is home to the biggest Bollywood fans in Europe. And it was but natural for Madame Tussauds to pick up the Bollywood icon of the millennium to represent Bollywood in their museum in London. This was way back in 2000, the very year when he made a comeback in the industry with a bang by hosting the iconic television show Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The rest is history.
Next in line was our very own Miss World Aishwarya Rai in 2004, a well known face around the world and a celebrity actress both in Indian films as well as English films. Having won the Ms World crown in 1994, she entered the Bollywood film industry in 1997 and won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1999 and later in 2005, became one of the well known faces of the cosmetics giant L’Oreal. It came as no surprise when the Ms World crown winner married Abhishek Bachchan, son of the Bollywood icon of the millennium in 2007.
Same year in 2007, Madame Tussauds unveiled the wax figurine of our King Khan Shahrukh, the third Bollywood celebrity to stand tall in the museum. Shahrukh who has been described as the most recognized star after a poll conducted by the Time magazine sometime in 2007, has always been a big fan of Madame Tussauds and was thrilled beyond words to be immortalized in the very place which he adored as a child.
If King Khan could grace the place, why would the bratty Salman Khan be left behind? The very next year in 2008, Salman Khan graced Madame Tussauds and unveiled his body double much to the delight of the massive crowd that had gathered for the occasion. He was lucky to have beaten others like Hrithik, Madhuri Dixit and others in a public poll to achieve this new stardom.
And finally we had Hrithik Roshan this year. Bollywood is going places, not just London but New York as well where Madame Tussauds have immortalized Amitabh Bachchan in their Times Square Museum too. This was in 2009 followed by Shahrukh Khan’s wax figure being unveiled in 2010. Shahrukh Khan who raised his fan base with My Name Is Khan in 2010 will surely have his fans rushing to see his body double not just in New York but also in Los Angeles where Madame Tussauds had already added the king Khan’s figure earlier. When Madame Tussauds conducts a public poll for the next Bollywood celebrity, we’ll have to wait and watch who makes it to the list of celebrities that will be a part of the poll and finally who wins it and graces Madame Tussauds! Fans keep your fingers crossed for your favorite actor!