Sunil’s Wax Museum : A rendenzvous with Celebrities

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ither you are gazing at someone or it’s the other way round.  This is Sunil’s Celebrity Wax Medium at Lonavla, a much sought after leisure destination near Mumbai.   At the lodging where we put up during our recent visit to Lonavla, Wax Museum was, touted as one of the must-see places.  Having seen all other places during our previous visit we set out to explore the new attraction. 

     Sunil’s Celebrity Wax Museum, not an imposing structure as such, is a place with moderate flow of people on a sunny day.    It is the brain child of Sunil Kandalloor, a Keralite, after similar ventures in Kochi, Kanyakumari and Thekady. Entry ticket to the “hall of fame”, cost  Rs 150 per head.  

     Who else other than the mighty Shivaji would greet you in the Maratha land. The wax statue resembles the character of Shivaji in a recent teleserial. Anna Hazare is seen in his usual styagraha posture.  Former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Ganghi and Atal Behari Vajpayee all find a place in the museum and also the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  You get to meet musicians like Pt. Jasraj,  M S  Subbulakshmi, Asha Bhosle, Hariharan, Michael Jackson and  A R Rehman, of course with his Oscars. Sitting on a chair with a table in front of him, Gurudev  Rabindranath Tagore seems to have put on the  thinking cap. 

     The religiously inclined can seek blessings from godmen like Baba Vaswani,  Sai Baba, Baba Ramadev, Vivekananda,  Ravishankar Guruji  and Dalai Lama.  Jyoti Kisange Amge of Kerala who holds Guinness World Record for being the smallest living woman in the world is placed on an elevated podium.   

     M F Hussein appears engrossed in work.  Towering personality of Kapil Dev overlooks you. Entertainers like Angelina Julie, Amitabh Bachchan,  “Mogambo” Amareesh Puri, Prabhudeva, Gagnam (style)  Jackie Shroff, Shaktimann, James Bond and Charlie Chaplin are all set to entertain the visitors with their unique styles. There are also stautes of  Dr B R Ambedkar, Bhgat Singh, Swami Vivekananda, Benazir Bhutto, Adolf Hitler, Nelson Mandela and many more. 

     As the museum has life-size replicas of persons of varied fields, all from children to adult can enjoy alike. Allowing photography is an added advantage.  You can get clicked with the “role models”  you adore.  You can easily con your friends by uploading your snaps with your  “icons”! 

     Except the doyen of Carnatic music M S Subbulakshmi,  I found all life-size wax models lively. Eyes looked natural and in the glare of artificial  light you can see even the tiny beads of sweat lining their face and neck. 

     It’s a unique experience to be with many famous personalities.  India’s own Madam Tussad’s.

-         Indira R Acharya