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Wax the way I like it, says Roshan

Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan - known for his trademark six- pack abs, green eyes and breezy dance moves - is the latest in the line-up of celebrity wax figures at London's Madame Tussauds.

Roshan's likeness was unveiled at a splashy Bollywood-themed event on Thursday afternoon at the London museum, for which the star jetted in from Mumbai with his parents, wife and children.

'It's a wonderful day and so overwhelming for me,' he says during a break in the celebrations. Roshan, whose films are inevitably among India's top-grossing, says he remembers visiting the museum as a child, accompanied by his grandfather, producer J. Om Prakash. The lines were long and, while Prakash wanted to walk out, Roshan insisted on waiting.

'I was so excited to be here and was determined to take pictures,' Roshan says. 'Now, my grandfather is here with me today, and he's as excited as I was when I was a child. I feel like we've come full circle.'

Roshan's figure - clad in the bicep-baring pink shirt and blue jeans he wore in his hit film Dhoom 2 - is also one of the few in the museum to have abs on display. The actor says he was measured in two sittings, one in London and one in Mumbai. A wax figure takes typically four months to make, using 20 artists and sculptors, and costs around GBP150,000 (HK$1.86 million). Some 500 facial and body measurements are usually taken.

'The detail is exceptional, and the preparation absolutely defies the norm,' Roshan says. 'It's like magic. Everything is detailed and intricate. It's like a second me up there.'

The statue is in the Bollywood corner of the museum, joining other megastars from India - Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai.

'It's very humbling for me to be here, surrounded by the legends of the world,' he says. 'When they first approached me for this, it wasn't even a distant dream.'

Roshan says he viewed his inclusion in the wax hall of fame as an 'acknowledgement of my body of work over these past 10 years.'

The unveiling coincides with the 250th year of Madame Tussauds in London. The museum has outposts in Hollywood, Las Vegas, New York and Hong Kong.

Roshan will next be seen in Zindagi na milegi dobara (You won't get a second life), about three friends on a road trip. He is reportedly also fielding offers from Hollywood studios.

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