New Jersey, USA (CU)_ An Indian-American family residing in Edison, New Jersey, has built a life-size statue of Bollywood legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan at their house, expressing their immense love for the actor. The statue was formally inaugurated by distinguished community leader Albert Jasani in front of Rinku and Gopi Seth’s home in Edison, which is also known as Little India, as it is home to a majority of the Indian-American population.
The event was celebrated with spirit by burning firecrackers and a casual dance performance by the Indian superstar’s fan club. The statue which was enclosed in a huge glass container was installed outside their home. The internet security engineer Gopi Seth told the media, “He is nothing less than a God to me and my wife”. He added, “The biggest thing that inspires me about him is not only his reel life, but also the real life … 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”.
Seth, who is a native of Dahod in eastern Gujarat, immigrated to the United States in 1990. Since then, the devoted fan of Big B has been running an exclusive website known as www.BigBEFamily.com for “Big B Extended Family”. According to him, the three-decade-old website is a database of Amitabh Bachchan’s ardent fans around the world. The Bollywood superstar also has access to the website. Seth claims that Bachchan knows about the statue. Seth reported that Big B informed him he did not deserve such treatment, but also did not stop him.
The life-size statue of Bachchan seated in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” style and attire was designed and built in Rajasthan before being sent to the United States. Seth reported that the total cost of the project exceeded $75,000 (about 60 lakhs). According to Seth, he met Big B in 1991 at the Navratri festivities in New Jersey. Since then, he has become a huge supporter of the actor. He stated that he had been organizing his admirers in the United States as well as across the world, which evolved into a website. He said, “Installing a statue in the US comes with a lot of challenges and this was more difficult than others”.
