KOZHIKODE: ‘Ram’ and ‘Janu’, the romantic pair in the heartwarming Tamil movie ’96, played by leading actors Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha have already won the hearts of millions of film-lovers across the country. Instagrammers and online shoppers are now going gaga over a series of figurines and miniature dolls representing the two characters, that has grown viral on social media platforms in the matter of a few days.
Created by city-based engineering graduates Ritwik Mekkayil and Pallavi Murali, the wooden dolls painted in acrylic, are being sold through their online art studio ‘Gulbonda’.
“We had watched the movie a couple of days back and was deeply moved by ‘Ram’ and ‘Janu’. We created a pair of dolls based on the characters and posted it on our Instagram page," said Ritwik. The art start-up ‘Gulbonda’ had kicked off in June by selling miniature figures of characters weaved out of a creative story. “ We initially had hardly any buyers. But after creating the Ram and Janu dolls, our number of followers have soared to over 2000,” he said.
The duo already has received over 200 order from within the country and abroad, of which over half of the orders are for the ‘96 movie dolls. “ The rest are orders for personalised dolls, which we will start making only after a couple of months, "he said. “ It takes about three days to make around 20 dolls, if we work at a stretch, “ added Ritwik.
The figurines are sold as pair, at a cost of Rs.1200 and are available on Amazon. The orders can also be placed through Gulbonda Instagram page.