Madame Tussauds is all set to enter India and will set up in Chennai if the Tamil Nadu government and the film fraternity lend a helping hand. Sources told The Times of India that Hyderabad was also considered for the museum, but Chennai has been given priority since Kollywood is based here.

"If Tamil Nadu Tourism and the State government provide subsidy, Chennai is the preferred destination," a source close to the project said. Apart from famous Indian actors and politicians, Chennai's Madame Tussauds will also feature popular global personalities in the field of entertainment, politics and sports.

Mumbai-based music video director and producer Bobby Khan has acquired exclusive rights to the brand from Merlin Entertainment, part of private equity fund Blackstone that owns Madame Tussauds globally. His company Bobby Khan Holdings has acquired 100% franchisee of Madame Tussauds in India.

  Bobby Khan is in charge of the Bollywood Zone at the London Madame Tussauds, where Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan stand. Salman Khan's wax figure, unveiled this January, is worth £200,000 (Rs 1.62 crore).

The first museum will come up in India in 2010 in Mumbai, followed by Delhi and finally Chennai or Hyderabad. Bobby Khan had also said he might take the museum to Lahore in Pakistan. Like other Madame Tussauds museums across the world, the ones in India too will have a minimum of 75 wax statues per location.

Duis aute irure dolor in erepre ahenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur etascisint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborumEach statue will cost around Rs 1.5 crore, and the investment in each museum will be Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore, inclusive of the cost of statues, real estate and other expenses.

Jeni Fairey, the sculptor who immortalised Shah Rukh Khan in wax last year with hair and colour artist Lisa Birtai, has been asked to prepare drawings for personalities from Chennai. All the statues will be made by artists from abroad, sources said.