Recall the scene in Devdas where Shah Rukh Khan and Jackie Shroff have been drinking and throwing glasses to shatter on the floor. Well, it seems, after all the takes, one glass survived the ordeal. Remember Madhuri Dixit gyrating to Maar Dala in a costume that weighed 10 kilos?
The surviving glass and Madhuri's costume are among the Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) worth of Devdas memorabilia up for auction on baazee.com's site from the second week of April as part of an exclusive arrangement with producer Bharat Shah.
The historic glass is expected to fetch between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 while Madhuri's Maar Dala costume is expected to start at Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 250,000).
Unlike other film units that mostly put up clothes and jewellery for sale, the Devdas auction is unique in that it will also include as many as 50 props. The final list of items is still being negotiated with Shah, though the clothes and jewellery are a certainty.
"All the props from Devdas, like the chair, the suspenders and tie he wore, the puja thalis and paintings and, of course, the memorable ghungroos, are likely to be up for sale from April 14," said Navin Mistry, manager, Bollywood category, at baazee.com.
The idea to auction Devdas memorabilia came up as a result of a growing number of enquiries from baazee customers.
Said Shah, "People, especially Non Resident Indians, are very interested in Bollywood. It is because of this that they are happy if they can own something that their favourite stars have worn or used in the film."
Adds Mistry, "We got cards signed by stars and auctioned them to aid charities. There are a lot of people around the world who don't mind shelling out a fortune even for a small card when it is for a worthy cause."
Normally, film-makers recoup between 60 and 80 per cent of the amount spent on costumes from auctions. "These (Bollywood-related auctions) are good for producers who can partly recover their costs and also good for the merchandise industry," Mistry said.
Shah, however, says he is not looking at revenues. "I am only looking at only recovering my costs. Over and above that, whatever we make I plan to donate to charity for a good cause," he said.
Auctioning film memorabilia is expected to become a growing business for baazee. For instance, Mistry is also looking at auctioning props from Karan Johar's all-time hit Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.
In addition, baazee has already established exclusive alliances with known production houses such as Rajshri Productions, Yash Chopra, Jhamu Sughand, Venus Records & Tapes, Tips, T-Series, Universal, Neha Arts, Boney Kapoor, Puja Films and Excel Entertainment to be their auction partners.
There are no estimates of how much baazee expects to raise from the Devdas auction.
One benchmark could be an offline auction that baazee organised in Delhi in September 2002 for Helpage India which fetched Rs 4 lakh for 18 items from various films.
