When Ayodhya becomes the cynosure of all eyes on January 22, Sunil Kandalloor, 52, will be rueing the “bureaucratic and legal delays” that held up his project, which will still be under construction even as the Ram Temple is inaugurated. The thought doesn’t dampen his mood for long, for the first phase of his fourth and most ambitious museum of wax sculptures is expected to be ready by April-May this year. With about 100 life-size wax statues of Rama, Sita, Hanuman and all the other important characters from Ramayana, the first phase will depict 30-35 scenes from Ram Katha, including Sita’s Swayamvar, Vanvaas and Lanka Dahan. The museum will be called Ramayan Wax Museum, Sunil said. The Rs 7-crore museum project was bagged by Sunil last April and construction is in full swing on the 2.5 acre allotted to him by the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation. “We applied for the museum tender and turned out to be the only applicant. So the government floated a second tender. Again, we were the sole applicants. It seems we are really the only people in the country with the kind of expertise this museum needs,” says Sunil . And these are not just tall claims, for his wax museums in Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), Thekkady (Kerala) and Lonavala (Maharashtra) are well known for their 170 life-size statues of celebrities like Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, social activist Anna Hazare, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, actor-politician M G Ramachandran, actor Rajnikant, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sunil’s brother Subhash said, “We made Modi ji’s statue in 2013, when he was still the Gujarat Chief Minister. He inaugurated it at a function in Mumbai.” Developed on the lines of London’s Madame Tussauds, these wax statues have earned frequent appreciation for their life-like appearance. While Sunil is the artist and the creative brain, his siblings Subhash and Sujit manage the administrative and logistic aspects of the museums. The Kandalloor siblings hail from Kerala but live in Lonavala. Since the past four months, Subhash and Sunil have shifted base to Ayodhya. Talking about the Ayodhya project, Sunil said, “For Ayodhya, we have started making moulds for the first 80 statues. Five of my workers are making moulds based on my models, drawings and instructions. I will do the final shaping and painting on each of them.” While the first phase, spread across 10,000 square feet, is devoted to Ram Katha, the second will be based on Krishna Katha. Later, he said, statues of celebrities may also be added, besides parks, restaurants, etc. Of the Rs 7 crore, said Subhash, the first phase will cost Rs 5 crore. Besides the five artists working on statue moulds, 20-25 people are getting the rest of the museum features together. As far as references for the statues are concerned, Sunil said he spent a long time studying different books and scriptures to understand the descriptions, especially for Rama. “Also, I have been in Ayodhya for the last few months. Everywhere I went, I saw pictures of Lord Rama, Laxman, Sita and Hanuman. These were also a part of my research and study,” said Sunil, adding that the availability of a very advanced type of silicon that resembles the human skin helps him create life-like sculptures. “I am using silicon, wax, fibreglass and other advanced materials to make these statues. There are many statues of all the characters. For example, Rama is shown walking into the forest, playing with his twins, launching a war against Ravana, etc. So, I have made many statues of Rama with different expressions." he added.
