(Image source from: Madame Tussauds’ Wax Museum To Open Soon In New Delhi})
Madame Tussauds’ Wax Museum will open its new venture in New Delhi, India, as a part of the India-UK Year of Culture in 2017. This is intended for Bollywood stars and is coinciding with PM Modi’s three-day UK visit. It is known that the most popular exhibits were of Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, and Kareena kapoor at the famous waxworks in London.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said in an announcement that treasures from the British Museum as well as a copy of the Magna Carts would go to India on touring displays for the 2017 cultural exchange. During the year, a festival of India is expected to stage in the UK.
Mr. Cameron said, “The great partnership between India and the UK extends beyond economic ties to the boards of The Bard and the beaches of Bollywood. We have some of the best cultural exports in the world, and it’s about time we celebrated this, together.”
A total of 200,000 pages of South Asian archives would be digitized by the British Library and India books from 1714 to 1914 would be made accessible all through the globe. Mr. Cameron also announced an year long-programme as a mark to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian independence as well as UK cultural ties.
“Two centuries of Indian print will be part of a major programme to make the wealth of Indian printed books held by the British Library dating from 1714 to 1914 accessible to anyone around the globe,” he said.
Highlights of the Year of Culture 2017
• An exciting festival of events.
• Celebrating the vibrant cultural history of both the countries.
• Top UK and Indian institutions will partner to strengthen both cultural and economic ties.
• British creativity would be showcased on the global stage.
• Two most iconic British texts will tour India.
• Shakespeare’s First Folio would be showcased.
• The CSMVS Mumbai would tell the story of Indian civilization; the context will be world history, Few will be taken on loan from the British library.
Merlin, the parent group of Madame Tussauds’, would invest 50 million pounds in India over a period of 10 years, during which other UK favorites like Sea Life aquariums and Legoland Discovery Centres would be rolled out all through Indian cities.
-Sumana
