After Gandhi, Shahrukh gets the honour at Grevin wax museum

In recent times, it is two Bollywood stars and their wax statues, which are making news. Both of them are Khans and have their names starting with ‘S’. These wax statues are also reflection of growing global popularity of these two Khans.


Earlier in the year 2007, Shahrukh Khan had unveiled his own wax statue at Madame Tussauds wax museum and the latest buzz is that he will have his second wax statute coming up in France. Paris’ Grevin wax museum will have King Khan’s wax statue in coming weeks. This is almost a year before his wax statue was unveiled at Madame Tussauds, London. He will be the first Bollywood icon to have two wax statues in the two world’s most prestigious wax museums.

This year in January, another Bollywood Khan ‘Salman Khan’ had his wax figure unveiled at Madame Tussauds. Tussauds website states that “Salman brings with him an exotic flavour of the East and adds a little extra spice to Madame Tussauds.”

These wax statues are also reflection of growing global popularity of these two Khans. Shahrukh is quite popular and well recognised in France; earlier French government had felicitated him with the prestigious French honour, The Order of Arts et des Lettres and now his statue in Grevin. Shahrukh will be the second Indian celebrity after Mahatma Gandhi to have a wax statue in Grevin.

A 19th century French journalist Arthur Meyer conceived Grevin’s wax museum. He collaborated with Alfred Grevin, a cartoonist, sculptor and costume designer to work on the project. Wax museum was open to the public in June 1882, and it became a grand success. Some of the wax statues in the Grevin collection include Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Pope John Paul-II, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

Salman’s growing popularity internationally and his fan following got his statue a place in special Bollywood section along with Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in Madame Tussauds museum. They hope that this will result in attracting more Asian visitors both in Britain and international tourists to the museum.

Contributed to anil