Bollywood star Katrina Kaif’s wax statue at Madame Tussauds

Katrina Kaif unveiled the wax statue at Madame Tussauds in London, and joined the new Bollywood setting as part of the popular wax-work museum’s ’15 years of Bollywood’ celebration.

After coming face-to-face with her wax model, Kaif said, ‘This is amazing it does look really like me.’ ‘Our world famous sculptors have worked closely with the Indian film industry over the last decade, and we now have a stellar line-up in a specially created Bollywood area – one of the most popular in the attraction,’ Madame Tussauds said in a statement.

Katrina, was picked after she went head to head with competitors Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone to win a hotly contested poll last year via Madame Tussauds website and in collaboration with Punjab Radio, with more than 225,000 votes were cast.

The 31-year-old British-Indian actress has become the seventh Bollywood actor to be honoured with a figure at Madame Tussauds London and joins Amitabh Bachchan (2000), Aishwarya Rai (2004), Shah Rukh Khan (2007), Salman Khan (2008), Hrithik Roshan (2011) and Madhuri Dixit-Nene (2012).

‘Katrina collaborated closely with the Madame Tussauds artistic team to ensure total accuracy and is delighted with the figure, which is portrayed in a dancing pose wearing a beautiful sequined white, silver and gold, two piece outfit,’ a museum spokesperson said.

Katrina’s figure was created by a team of 20 sculptors and artists over a four-month period, using hundreds of precise measurements taken at a sitting in Mumbai and cost 150,000 pounds to create.

Madame Tussauds Studios London has been making wax figures for over 150 years with each masterpiece taking up to four months and a team of 20 dedicated sculptors to create.

Over 500 precise body measurements are referenced, real head hairs are inserted one by one, and countless layers of paints and tints are applied to build up skin tones to achieve a kind of astonishing realism that visitors flock to see from around the world.

The Bollywood factor has proved extremely lucrative, with Indian holidaymakers and NRIs forming a large chunk of the visitor numbers at one of London’s most popular tourist spots.

One of the highest paid British-Indian, Bollywood film actress and model, Katrina Turquotte born16 July 1983 has also appeared in Malayalam and Telugu films.

Born in Hong Kong, Kaif and her family lived in several countries before she moved to India. Her father (Mohammed Kaif) is a British businessman of Kashmiri descent and her mother Susanna an English lawyer and charity worker.

Katrina received her first modelling assignment as a teenager and later pursued a career as a fashion model. During a London show filmmaker Kaizad Gustad cast her in Boom (2003), a critical and commercial failure. While filming in India, Kaif received modelling assignments and established a successful modelling career. However, filmmakers were hesitant to cast her due to her poor command of Hindi. After appearing in the successful Telugu film Malliswari (2004), Kaif earned commercial success in Bollywood with the romantic comedies Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005) and Namastey London 2007). She followed with a series of box-office hits, but was criticised for her acting, repetitive roles and inclination to male dominated films.

Kaif’s performance in the 2009 terrorism drama New York was better received, earning her a Filmfare Award for Best Actress nomination. After roles in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009) Raajneeti (2010) and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) she received her second Filmfare nomination for her performance in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011). She featured in the thrillers Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Dhoom3 (2013), both are the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.