A statue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi made entirely from scrap material, would be soon erected in Bengaluru city. The statue is made by artists Katuru Venkateswara Rao and his son Katuru Ravi from Tenali in Guntur district. The father-son duo run 'Surya Silpa Sala' in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.
Artisan Rao said a BJP corporator Mohan Raju approached him to make the stature of PM Modi.
Rao informed that he used various kinds of waste material, such as discarded automobile parts, metal chains, cogs, wheels, rods, nuts, bolts, sheets, and other broken unusable metal pieces, nuts, and bolts to make the statue. Overall, roughly 2 tonnes of scrap were used to build the prime minister's statue.
Rao said a team of 10 members helped them with welding work to erect the statue. It took almost two months to build PM Modi's statue, he added.
"We have international recognition in making iron scrap sculptures. We have made artistic sculptures using almost 100 tonnes of iron scrap for the past 12 years. Recently we have designed a 10 feet height Mahatma Gandhi sculpture using 75,000 nuts for a world record," Rao said.
Rao usually visits scrap sellers in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, and Chennai to procure the material.
He is the fifth-generation sculptor in his family. He said his father went off-track and began making small idols or statues. Subsequently, they began making bronze statues. However, Rao's son Ravi introduced scrap art. Ravi has a master’s degree in fine arts.
The duo has created models of the Hindustan Ambassador car, tractors, national emblems, and bullock cart etc from the scrap material.
