Just like Madame Tussauds in Delhi, a 71-year-old man made headlines recently for his 52 wax statues at Prabhakar’s Wax Museum in Ludhiana. The museum was opened in 2005 and has been a tourist attraction. However, when pictures of the same were shared on social media by news agency ANI, it evoked a few laughs over how different they looked from the actual personalities.
Among the 52 personalities, the statues include that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mother Teresa, former US president Barack Obama, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, actor Salman Khan among many others.
Punjab: More than 52 wax statues of famous personalities from different walks of life were installed at Prabhakar's Wax Museum in Ludhiana. pic.twitter.com/oE9I6GpzT0
— ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2018
Several social media users trolled the museum raising questions like: "(This is a Quiz Contest) Yeh wax museum nahin hai. Yeh Bournvita Quiz Contest hai.. Guess who the character is and win a prize.." Some even said that the wax museum "looks like a horror museum."
The wax museum should start this contest. No one will get it right pic.twitter.com/0MFM15mWjw
— P.R. (@pr_akash_raj) April 2, 2018
However, some users even came in Prabhakar's support. Defending the artist, they said that the 71-year-old man started making statues just as a hobby in 2005 after having a heart surgery to keep himself engaged. "It's his private museum. He pays everything from his pocket. Of late, he has started charging Rs 100 as entry fee to meet his expenses. In this industrial city with hardly any recreational options, it gets a decent footfall. Above all, it brings him satisfaction," the Twitter user said.
Chandra Shekhar Prabhakar is a 71 yr old man who took up this hobby way back in 2005 after a heart surgery. His motive was to keep himself engaged as he could no longer manage his business and handed over the reins to his children. He is a spirited man and very inspiring
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) April 2, 2018
The thread also said that he only makes statues by using 2D photographs so his work cannot be compared to that of professionals. "He knows ppl mock his work. But he is quite right in saying that his work can't be compared to professionals since he makes statues only using the 2D photographs he has. Anyway, hats off to him, he's doing it all alone with no rewards for 20 yrs now! That's all I wanted to share," the user added.
Another Twitter user also shared his experience with the man saying that the spirit should be appreciated. "Met him on my visit to Ludhiana he was very gracious and took my daughter and my mom with him inside and lovngly showed them every statue. I agree it is not like Madam Tussad or even close but appreciate the spirit," a tweet said.
Met him on my visit to Ludhiana he was very gracious and took my daughter and my mom with him inside and lovngly showed them every statue. I agree it is not like Madam Tussad or even close but appreciate the spirit
— Anshuman Prakash (@TheAMan) April 2, 2018
After hearing the counter-argument of why the statues aren't world class, Twitter seems to be ready to cut him some slack.
Thank you for sharing this and I hope he gets trolled less. There was really no need for ANI to tweet about a private museum and make it a butt of jokes.
— SamSays (@samjawed65) April 2, 2018
I am totally ashamed now, for liking the earlier tweets on this. Perils of consuming instant news and jumping into judgements.
Since you know him personally, please let him know that we salute his efforts!
— Satya M (@mohanty_satya) April 2, 2018
Prabhakar had visited Madame Tussauds in 2000 after which he had decided to open his own wax museum.
