New Jersey: An Indian-American couple, Rinku and Gopi Sheth, unveiled the statue of the legendary actor on August 27 and even organised an inauguration ceremony. Enclosed in a glass casket, Amitabh Bachchan is seen sitting on a chair wearing a traditional black bandhgala suit. The statue is placed outside the new home of the family.
In photos, posted on Twitter, the family is seen wearing traditional attire as they pose next to the statue of the actor. Many people from the Indian-American community participated in the inauguration ceremony.
“You have done good job. Amitabh love by all. His statue will be attraction point in USA,” commented a Twitter user. “Congratulations SIR!! Salute you & your Family’s respect to the Star of the millennium,” said another. Talking to a news agency, Gopi said, “He is nothing less than a god to me and my wife. The biggest thing that inspires me about him is not only his reel life but also his real life and how he manages himself in public, how he conveys and communicates …everything you know. He is very down-to-earth. He takes care of his fans. He is not like so many other stars. This is why I thought I should have his statue outside of my house.”
Gopi, who came to the US from Gujarat’s Dahod in 1990, has also been running a website dedicated to Amitabh Bachchan for the past three decades. The website http://www.BigBEFamily.com calls itself “Big B Extended Family”.
The life-size statue of Amitabh Bachchan was designed and made in Rajasthan before being shipped to the US. Gopi is quoted as saying that the entire project cost him more than US$ 75,000.
