Abhipriti, a 6-year-old girl hailing from Alappuzha district in Kerala, is eager to see the statue of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the Jayalalithaa memorial at Marina beach in Chennai as her hair has also become a part of the statue.
Sajayan Madhavan, an Alappuzha-based sculptor, made 167 cm tall life-size statues of Jayalalithaa which were installed at the Amma memorial recently.
Sajayan told DH that a child's hair were required for the statue and Abhiprithi's hair was used for the purpose. Sajayan came across Abhiprithi through her father Jibeesh, who is his friend. Sajayan discussed his requirement of hair for the statue and Jibeesh suggested his daughter's hair be used. It was found to be matching with the texture of Jayalalithaa's hair and hence, it was used. Remaining hair was bought from the market.
Jibeesh, who is a Yuva Morch worker hailing from Thycattusserry on the suburbs of Alappuzha, said that Abhiprithi, who is a first-standard student, is now eager to see the statue and they plan to visit the memorial without much delay. The family was planning to donate hair for cancer patients. But when this suggestion came up, the family was quite happy to donate Abhipriti's hair, he said.
Sajayan did many such works including statues at the Punjab war memorial museum. He said that Jayalalithaa's statues were made using the hyper realistic silicone technology. One of the statues was a remembrance of the popular free laptop distribution programme of Jayalalithaa, he said.