Prabhas wax statue sparks controversy

Prabhas played the iconic Mahendra Baahubali and Amarendra Baahubali in S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali series and now, a statue of the actor as the character installed by the Chamundeshwari Celebrity Wax Museum in Mysore has fanned a controversy. Though the statue was set up in December 2022, a photo of it is only now on social media. And the makers of the film are protesting, saying it was installed without their permission.

One of the producers of Baahubali, Shobu Yarlagadda, learnt about the statue through social media and posted on X, “This not an officially licensed work and was done without our permission or knowledge. We will be taking immediate steps to get this removed.”

“Since we have the trade license of Baahubali, and the statue is in Baahubali attire, the maker of the statue should have taken permission from us,” says Shobu speaking to DC. He adds that if the statue is a general one of a celebrity, permission needs to be obtained from that person.

The museum authorities promptly apologised. They claimed they were unaware of the licensing issues, and have agreed to remove the statue. “We spoke to Shobuji and apologised for setting up the statue without his permission. We have already initiated the process to removed the statue,” says a museum authority.

He further added, “Since we are a celebrity museum, the 6-ft Prabhas statue has only been kept for display and entertainment and not for any other commercial purpose,” said an official, adding that they would be removing the statue after speaking to Shobu.”

Many have been saying that the statue bears no resemblance to Prabhas, and only the Baahubali costume indicates it is him. Trolls are having a field day. ‘Naptol Prabhas’, ‘David Warner with long hair’ and ‘Amarendra John Wick Bahubali’ are some of the comments the statue has triggered.