Abhishek Satam from Mumbai has made a 44ft by 24ft rangoli to pay tribute to the master blaster
Walking inside the premises of Parel-based RM Bhatt School, one can see the passion of a fan towards the god of cricket. 28-year-old artist Abhishek Satam is obsessed about Sachin Tendulkar since the time he was in class 3.
Celebrating Sachin’s 44th birthday, Abhishek along with his friends has made a 44ft X 24ft rangoli in the school premises dedicating it to the sportsman he loves the most. According to Satam, the 44 ft indicates Sachin’s 44th birthday while 24ft indicates his 24 years of career in Indian cricket team.
Speaking about what inspired him to draw rangoli artwork, he said, "I have been celebrating his birthday since few years. This year I wanted to celebrate his birthday by showing my creative artwork. My friends and school alumni helped me by sponsoring the cost. The artwork is open for all the public to view. Last year we made a video on the song 'Jabra' from the movie Fan."
(Abhishek Satam with friends shows off his artwork. Photographer - Hemant Padalkar)
Since his childhood, Abhishek has been collecting newspaper cutouts, magazines, books wherever he sees Tendulkar’s photos. Remembering one such crazy incident, Satam said, "The day after Sachin announced his retirement every newspaper had various photos of Sachin. I spent Rs 350 to buy di the ferent newspaper from the market to collect all his photos."
He further added, “Once I had told my local newspaper boy about my passion to collect his photos, since then he gave me permission to see various newspapers in his stall everyday. The newspapers which had Tendulkar’s photos, I use to purchase those newspapers regularly. Once in a month, I use to sell all old newspapers to scrap dealers and buy magazines which had Tendulkar’s photo in it. Many magazine sellers in the city have my contact details and they keep updating me every month about the recent photos in new editions of the magazines."
Since the last 16 years, Abhishek has been collecting photos, news articles, books, magazines, pens and bats that has Sachin's name on it. Till date he has over 40,000 photos, 40 books, 160 magazines, over 11 pen designed by Reynolds which has the cricketer's autograph and photo. His collection also includes a 24 karat gold-plated bat with Tendulkar’s autograph.
While Sachin’s biographical movie - Sachin: A Billion Dreams is about to release in next month, Satam has been approached by the India-Australia relationship officer to show his collection for the promotion of the movie in Sydney, Australia.
Abhishek, said, "The talks are going on. I won’t be able to courier my collection since it is very precious for me. As a fan, I will be happily promoting his movie before the release in few city-based theatres through my collections."
He is also planning to put an exhibition of his Sachin Tendulkar’s collection. While, this fan of Tendulkar has never met him before but has high hopes for it to happen soon. "I have started posting letters and my articles at Sachin’s residence with a hope that he will reply some day and I get a chance to meet him soon." Abhishek smiled.
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