Chennai’s Marina Beach in Besant Nagar saw a great buzz of activity on Saturday, with beachgoers stopping by to see the faces of their favourite film stars taking shape on the beach sand. Popular sand sculptor Sudarsan Pattnaik, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014, was in Chennai to create a sand sculpture in honour of Kollywood stars. Faces of ‘Superstar’ Rajinikanth, ‘Thala' Ajith and ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay carved under a tent set up on the beach were the main attractions.
Sudarsan began working on the sculptures early on Saturday morning and completed them by 4.30 pm the same day. Speaking to TNM, the artist said, “It is a great honour to be doing it here. My second favourite beach is Marina in Chennai. The Tamil film industry holds an important place in Indian cinema and this is my tribute to the industry.”
Sudarsan, who has been to Marina Beach quite a few times, shares that it was his first time sculpting Kollywood stars.
Hailing from Odisha, the artist has won several international awards for his sand sculptures. In the International Scorrano Sand Nativity event held in Lecce, Italy from November 13 to 17, Sudarsan became the first Indian to win the Italian Sand Art Award.
The concept was part of a curtain-raiser planned by Zee Tamil TV channel ahead of its very first Zee Cine Awards Tamil. The awards will be presented under different categories, selected by a panel of juries and the channel will also allow viewers to vote for their favourite stars. The award categories include Favourite Socially Responsible Hero, Favourite Telugu/Kannada/Malayalam Hero in Tamil Nadu, etc. Details about the voting will be shared on the channel.
The star-studded award presenting ceremony will take place at Nehru Indoor Stadium on January 4, 2020 and will be hosted by Archana and Deepak.