LUDHIANA: There is almost no one in the city who missed seeing Anna Hazare on TV and some even went to Delhi and saw him at the Ramlila Maidan. Now, Ludhianvis have found a new place to find Anna at - the Prabhakar Wax museum, where he stands with a torch of revolution in his hand.
But once in the museum, it not just Anna who is catching the eye. There are many more statues of celebrities that are drawing exclamations of wonder from city residents.London that he had visited in 2001 during his trip to attend a close friend's wedding.
Fascinated by the statues there, Prabhakar suggested to the authorities that they open a branch in India too. But the suggestion was turned down so Prabhakar resolved to start one himself.
The magic of fingers became evident when he made the first wax statue of Mahatma Gandhi in 2004 and then there were many more creations.
"After making the first statue I was confident that I am on the right track so I made many statues one after the other including that of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Jackson, Sonia Gandhi, Barak Obama, Manmohan Singh and the latest one to be added was of Anna Hazare,'' said Prabhakar.
Initially, Prabhakar was making these at home and then he shifted to a place given at Hardy's World but now with 51 wax statues, Prabhakar has made a museum in Bhattian village on National Highway 1, close to the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum.
Prabhakar's museum has been constructed on an area of 2,000 square yards and has a big studio in the basement where he first creates a clay mould looking at pictures of the subject. "Then I pour bee wax into the mould and after this starts the real work of giving the final shape to the face. The torso and the legs are made of fibre, which is used to facilitate moving the statue from one place to another without destroying it,'' Prabhakar explained.
But once in the museum, it not just Anna who is catching the eye. There are many more statues of celebrities that are drawing exclamations of wonder from city residents.London that he had visited in 2001 during his trip to attend a close friend's wedding.
Fascinated by the statues there, Prabhakar suggested to the authorities that they open a branch in India too. But the suggestion was turned down so Prabhakar resolved to start one himself.
The magic of fingers became evident when he made the first wax statue of Mahatma Gandhi in 2004 and then there were many more creations.
"After making the first statue I was confident that I am on the right track so I made many statues one after the other including that of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Jackson, Sonia Gandhi, Barak Obama, Manmohan Singh and the latest one to be added was of Anna Hazare,'' said Prabhakar.
Initially, Prabhakar was making these at home and then he shifted to a place given at Hardy's World but now with 51 wax statues, Prabhakar has made a museum in Bhattian village on National Highway 1, close to the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum.
Prabhakar's museum has been constructed on an area of 2,000 square yards and has a big studio in the basement where he first creates a clay mould looking at pictures of the subject. "Then I pour bee wax into the mould and after this starts the real work of giving the final shape to the face. The torso and the legs are made of fibre, which is used to facilitate moving the statue from one place to another without destroying it,'' Prabhakar explained.
"I had read about the statue of Anna that Prabhakar was making and ever since wanted to visit the museum. Sunday was the best time for it as my family was free. I have complimented the artist as the statue is so real that one feels Anna is about to talk to you. My children were also amazed and we got pictures clicked with Anna's statue and many other statues like that of Dharminder as he looked in his movie 'Yamla Pagla Deewana','' said Harpreet Singh Chandoke, a businessman from Rajguru Nagar.
Businessman Aditya R Kalia could not agree more with Chandoke. "What I saw at the museum was much better than what I had imagined. The moment you enter, you feel like standing in the middle of a large number of people gazing at you... All the statues are so real. I had visited to see the statue of Anna Hazare but all the others are also amazing,'' said Kalia, a resident of Barewal Road.
Chander Shekhar Prabhakar, 65 years old and a businessman himself, has adeptly been making wax statues of national and international personalities from different walks of life.
Chander Shekhar Prabhakar inspiration is the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in