This wax statue at Madame Tussauds isn't actually of Prabhas himself; but of his iconic character Amarendra Baahubali.
The unprecedented heights of success and fame that Prabhas achieved post-'Baahubali' is something that one can only dream of. Very few in Indian cinema have been able to come close to that benchmark - other examples may include Shah Rukh Khan after 'DDLJ' or Hrithik Roshan after 'Kaaho Na Pyaar Hai'. But as far as Prabhas' is concerned, we had never seen anything like that before. From the 'Rebel Star' of Telugu cinema, he rose to the status of a worldwide sensation, with kids across the globe emulating his style, youth aspiring to be like him, and women, obviously, going gaga over his charm. And almost every major production house in the country wanted to sign him for a big-budget film.
The "Rajamouli Curse", as they call it, stayed with Prabhas for quite some time. Whether it's 'Saaho', 'Radhe Shyam', or 'Adipurush', his subsequent ventures failed to impress fans. But form is temporary, and class is permanent - the actor finally came out of that phase last year with 'Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire', and then created history once again a few months ago with 'Kalki 2898 AD'. And thanks to the exciting projects in his pipeline, especially 'Spirit' directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, he now stands tall as a force to be reckoned with.
Prabhas in a still from ‘Kalki 2898 AD’
The actor turns 45 today. On this occasion, we share an interesting fact about him that you probably didn't know.
It was 2017. 'Baahubali: The Conclusion' made Prabhas a global sensation. And then the superstar became the first actor from South India to get a wax statue at the prestigious Madame Tussauds.
After receiving requests from all across the world, the Madame Tussauds Museum in Bangkok installed a wax statue of the character Baahubali. For this, the actor gave a sitting in Hyderabad, where artists from the museum took his photos and measurements. According to some reports, around 350 photos of him were taken.
S. S. Rajamouli, director of the 'Baahubali' franchise, shared the news on Twitter (now X). In his words, "Very happy to announce that Madame Tussauds is making a wax statue of our Prabhas. First South Indian to be honored thus." Actor Rana Daggubati, who played the antagonist in the same franchise, tweeted: "What joy and pride it brings me when the Brother the Baahubali Prabhas has his very own statue at the Madame Tussauds."
Very happy to announce that Madame Tussauds is making a wax statue of our PRABHAS..
— rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) October 1, 2016
First South Indian to be honoured thus.
Credit: rajamouli ss
Noppadon Prapimpunt, Head of Bangkok Cluster for Merlin Entertainments (Thailand), and General Manager of Madame Tussauds Bangkok, said about the same, "Prabhas is definitely in the spotlight. He is not merely all about his unique style and macho charm in his screen presence but also a superstar who fully lives up to his family legend of his father, Uppalapati Surya Narayana Raju who is a well-known Tollywood (Telugu film) producer, and his uncle Krishnam Raju, the famous Tollywood actor and politician."
Prabhas’ wax statue at Madame Tussauds, Bangkok
Notably, the statue was placed in the museum's Movie Room, side by side with other iconic characters such as Spiderman, Wolverine, Captain America, and James Bond. Upon the unveiling, its photos and videos went incredibly viral all over the internet.
Speaking about achieving this extraordinary feat, Prabhas later shared in an interview, "My first visit to Tussauds in Hong Kong was in 2013 but I had never imagined that I would be waxed in a statue."
Here is Wax statue of Majestic #Prabhas as #Baahubali at #MadameTussauds #Bangkok !! pic.twitter.com/jvcAxAd5Wq
— SS Music (@SSMusicTweet) May 2, 2017
Credit: SS Music
"I am really happy to have been selected by Madam Tussauds' and I think this was only possible because of fans. I am also thankful to my guru, S. S. Rajamouli, for the opportunity to work on this fantastic project, 'Baahubali'."
Besides the Madame Tussauds’, Prabhas also has several other wax statues at various locations.
On March 25, 2019, Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu (interestingly, the lead in S. S. Rajamouli's next)'s wax statue was installed at Madame Tussauds, Singapore. It was also displayed at the multiplex theatre, AMB Cinemas, in Hyderabad for a day soon after its launch.
