Happy & Safe Diwali to all Superstar fans

Deccan Chronicle explores the hot sellers among crackers of this DiwalI…

Apart from rocket packs featuring the PSLV, Rajinikanth’s Robot crackers are hot sellers

As Chennaiites revel in the spirit of Diwali, firecracker manufacturers in the city are cashing in on the latest trends and current affairs that made the headlines this year. On the eve of the festival, they have even come up with a fitting tribute to the dedicated scientists of our country who successfully launched India’s first unmanned mission to the moon — the Chandrayaan 1.

One of the most popular items on sale this year is the rocket pack inspired by the same. Patriotically packaged in a cover with a picture of (brace yourselves), the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), it is replete with an illustration of the national flag on its fuselage. Other variants include rockets with illustrations of astronauts on them. NM Kasim, a firecracker vendor at Flower Bazaar says, “The PSLV crackers are quite popular with kids this year. Apart from being reasonably priced, they have a certain novelty and curiosity factor to them as well.” And novelty seems to be the name of the game as even the film stars, whose pictures have adorned the pack ages of these firecrackers have undergone a major overhaul. K Jeyaraj, the proprietor of Kasi Enterprises and a fireworks dealer says, “This year the most popu lar actresses to grace the firecracker packages are Shriya, Nayanthara and Asin compared to last year when Namitha and Khushboo’s pictures were on the cover of almost every other firecracker. It goes with out saying that these stars are one of the main draws, which helps sell the crackers.” K Raghuraman, a civil engineer who was finishing up on the last minute purchases for Diwali says, “Shriya happens to be my favourite actress and it’s an added incentive to have her picture on the firecrackers as well.” But when one speaks about Kollywood, how can Rajinikanth be far behind?

A family pack called Robo – The Almighty, which is inspired by the superstar’s upcoming film, is another hot seller this year. Jeyaraj explains, “The price of raw materials for the crackers shot up by almost 30 to 40 per cent this year. This is reflected in the prices as well. So the manu facturers have to resort to such attractive packaging styles to entice customers into buying them for Diwali.”