City idols of Goddess Durga with Aishwarya's looks

She is married and may no longer set the screen on fire, but make no mistake, she is still a goddess.

Come Durga Puja and Hyderabad will see Aishwarya Rai with a bevy of other heroines in processions around the city as Durga Mata herself. The idol-makers have decided that their faces are cast in a splendour that is worthy of the divine mother's visage.

Idol-makers in Dhoolpet area of the Old City have already made several idols of Goddess Durga with Aishwarya's looks.

The Bollywood star can be seen as Goddess Durga perched on a lion, standing on a lotus, seated on a throne and in several other postures.

According to the craftsmen, the actress immortalised at Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London is the favourite of organisers who are putting up pandals across the city.

The nine-day Durga Puja is slated to be held from October 12 to 21 and orders have started pouring in for idols. The prices vary from Rs 7,000 to Rs 20,000 depending on the size and model.

After Ash, it is Bhoomika who is a big draw followed by top heroines of yesteryear including Hema Malini and Madhuri Dixit. Bipasha Basu, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta can also be seen.

The idol-makers first make the mould of the face, which takes anywhere between one to five months. They use the posters of the actresses stuck on the walls of their dingy sheds for this. The attire of the idols is also painted in colours similar to those of the actresses' dresses in the posters.

"When one thinks of the goddess, a beautiful image is registered on the mind," said Sundar Singh, an idol-maker of Dhoolpet. "Aishwarya Rai and Bhoomika are beautiful women whose faces can be used to symbolise that of the goddess. I personally prefer Hema Malini."

Sundar Singh is planning to make 200 such Durga idols before the puja.

Durga idols of Dhoolpet are being bought by pandal organisers not just in the State but also by those from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

"Idols made by the city artists look real, attractive and are coloured well and that is what which brings us here," said K. Bhojanna, who had arrived from Basara in Adilabad district.

Khairatabad Ganesh Idol goes green

This year city will see an eco-friendly Ganesh festival this year with the makers of the Khairatabad Ganesh, one of the tallest idols in country - 45 foot high Vishvarupa Ganesha Idol, deciding to use only natural colours.

After several rounds of discussions, the Hyderabad district administration convinced the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee to use natural colours instead of artificial colours laced with chemicals.

"We have agreed to this," said S. Sudharshan of Ganesh Utsav Committee. "We will start painting the idol in the first week of September. The steel structure of the idol is complete." However, the organisers are worried whether the idol will not have the same glow and shine if they use natural colours.

Natural colours are made out of pomegranate bark, chebulic myrobalan (karrakaya), turmeric flowers, neem, henna, palm jaggery, eucalyptus leaves, vegetable oils, turmeric and false calumba root (manu pasupu).

They are soluble in water and cause no pollution.

"We will give the idol glow by spraying oil on natural colours," said Mr Sudharshan. "The cost of paint will come down by at least 25 per cent. We usually spent Rs. 80,000 every year."

The idol would stand 40-feet tall and would be a replica of the Vishwarupa Ganesh with 18 heads standing on a globe. "It will be accompanied by 10 other idols of Sammakka Sarakka, Satyanarayana Swamy, Ayyappa, Kumaraswamy, a snake, a bull and a balance," he added.

More than 100 people have begun work on the idol, which is to be made ready five days before the festival, which falls on September 15. More than 25 workers have been brought from Chennai to design it.

The Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Committee maintained that not all idols could be painted with natural colours. "Natural colours will be used only on 10 per cent of the idols,".