Longing for the woman who died as a result of Covid-19, Indian Tapas Sandilya, 65, ordered an ultra-realistic replica of her. For this, he had to pay the sum of 250,000 rupees, which is equivalent to R$16,000.
A resident of Kaikali village in Kolkata district, India, the man paid for the silicone statue. It’s built to sit, and according to The Times of India, it’s on the sofa in the living room, in the house where the couple live together. The photo went viral on social media due to the resemblance and made neighbors and even tourists show up in the village to visit.
Tapas, however, denies that he had the idea to attract attention and succeed. “I am, earnestly speaking, fulfilling my wife’s greatest desire. We had visited the Iskcon temple at Mayapur a decade ago and could not stop admiring the life-like statue of the founder of the order, Bhaktivedanta Swami. It was then that Indrani told me of his desire to have a similar statue if she preceded me. The family was against the idea but eventually gave up,” al-Hindi told The Times of India.
Months after Gabas’ wife died, he searched the Internet for a professional who could put her wish into action. This is how he found sculptor Subimal Das, 46, in early 2022.
Sobimal, who is known for his talent in making silicone statues for museums, told the newspaper that creating the Jabba statue was one of his biggest challenges. “It was absolutely necessary for the statue to have a realistic facial expression,” says the sculptor, explaining that the work took more than six months. Pictures of Indrani’s face were collected from various angles to help. A clay model was also created to then make a fiberglass core mold, which got melted silicon.”
The statue weighs about 30 kilograms and is dressed in women’s clothing, including her favorite gold jewellery. (with info from TrendsBr)
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