Potter, Bond boost fire cracker sales

PUNE: James Bond, the MI6 superspy , can now go `up, up and away' in the air in a flash.Also,

Harry Potter

, the wizard, can spin magic in the form of colorful sparkles. The super talented Jennifer Lawrence can turn out to be a wonder ballet dancer, making several spins per second if she gets bored being Mystique or working for Magneto.

Gone are the days when fi recracker boxes carried pictures of `Dream girl' Hema Malini, the stunning Sri Devi or even Katrina Kaif and Kangana Ranaut, the new-age entrants. Even the `Sultan' Salman Khan and `King Khan' Shahrukh have taken a backseat. It is time for Hollywood biggies to glorify the boxes with their machoism and glamour.

“Earlier,

Bollywood

stars were the popular choice with the manufacturers. I remember that around five to six years back, the boxes had pictures of Hema Malini, Sri Devi, Zeenat Aman and others.Then the trend changed and until a couple of years back it used to be the new actors, be it Salman, Shahrukh, Anushka Sharma or Priety Zinta. This year, however, the scene has changed with boxes of rock ets, sky shots, hydro bombs, parachute bombs, atom bombs, flower pots, sparkles etc, carrying pictures of ac tors from the west. I myself don't know the names of most of them, but then the children and yo ungsters recognize them immediately ,“ said Prajat Sawant, the owner of Sai Patakha Mart.

Another wholesale seller said, “The crackers come ma inly from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. We have never really thoroughly inquired about what really makes them put up these pictures and change them. Of what we know, it is a marketing strategy to pull customers. There are a few whole sellers, who give special orders to manufacturing units to put in the pictures of certain actors or actresses or even a politician. I have recei ved many crackers in which boxes have pictures of movie stars or a personality from the west. I am guessing west. I am guessing that Hollywood films are gaining popularity in India and many a times doing better than their Bollywood counterparts.“

Another shop which has been set up at the Mulik Gro und has got a whole lot of ex ploding rolls which can be fi red with the help of small toy pistols, bearing the picture of `Men In Black' star Will Smith.

A kind of rocket, which shoots up in the air and blows up spreading red sparkles in the sky , has the picture of Sulli van Stapleton, who played the character of Themistocles in the bloody but hugely popular 2014 blockbuster, `300: Rise of an Empire'. Bollywood too makes its presence felt somehow though with sparkle rockets having the picture of Aishwarya Rai and the now international star Deepika Padukone. Another shelf at a store in the same area has got a range of flower pots that emit green colour when lit. And to match it accordingly , the picture is that of the green monster `Hulk', who looks angry as ever.

Suresh Kurkarni, another firecracker shopkeeper, recognizes the picture of Maggie Q, who has played both the good and the vamp in popular films like `Live Free', `Die Hard' and `Mission Impossible 3'. “I have seen this lady in many films and she does good stunts. So, as a marketing strategy , whenever a young customer comes, I explain him about the beating she has given to people in the movies and convince that the firecracker with her picture will also perform the same way ,“ Kurkarni said. Sameer Shashwat, who studies in the sixth grade in a city-based school, bought five packets of sky shots just because it carried pictures of Daniel Craig, who plays the character of James Bond.