28 February,2009 07:51 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Sachin Tendulkar reached a new level of fame yesterday when it was announced that a wax figure of his will be part of internationally renowned Madame Tussauds, London in April. Good measure of the master! Sachin Tendulkar during a two-hour sitting with a representative of London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum at a city hotel recently.
Tendulkar will join Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan and fellow cricket legends Brain Lara and Shane Warne, who are featured in the wax museum.
Two-hour sitting
pics courtesy/Madame tussauds
The master batsman had a sitting with the Madame Tussauds studios team, who recently travelled to Mumbai to capture a catalogue of reference photographs and hundreds of precise measurements. The information they collected at the two-hour session at Taj Lands End hotel will prove invaluable as sculptors and hair and make-up artists work on his figure. "We are delighted to confirm our next Indian superstar is going to be Sachin Tendulkar; his achievements on the cricket pitch are phenomenal and he is one of the biggest names in international sport," said Madame Tussauds PR Manager Liz Edwards.
Enormously popular
"The Bollywood stars we have included over the past 10 years have proved enormously popular with Asian guests and film fans. We know Sachin will be just as popular and are looking forward to introducing the real Sachin to his wax double soon."
Tendulkar will be featured in typical celebratory "on the pitch" pose after a century. He will be dressed in his cricket whites which he donated.
The figure will be created at Madame Tussauds studios in West London in the next three months at a cost of u00c2u00a3150,000.
Pele, David Beckham, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, etc, are some the other sporting legends in Madame Tussauds.