Rajini to Bachchan: Indian celebrities who have joined NFT bandwagon

Actors, high profile celebrities, artists, sports icons have all jumped on the fast-moving wagon that is NFT. Non-fungible tokens, which are gaining steam not only in India but across the globe, have seen significant growth in terms of sales. An NFT is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore, not interchangeable. NFTs can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. Take a look at some of the well-known celebrities who have launched NFTs(Image: Shutterstock)

Amitabh Bachchan’s NFT collection has been the most successful so far. NFTs of ‘Madhushala’, a book of poetry by his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and autographed posters and collectables garnered $966,000 (about Rs 7.18 crore) at an auction organised by BeyondLife.club, an NFT exchange platform. The ‘Madhushala’ NFT collection was the pick of the lot, with the poems recorded in the superstar’s own voice crossing a total of $756,000 (about Rs 5.5 crore) worth of bids.

Digital assets of movies starring Tamil superstar Rajinikanth have also seen strong traction from buyers. The 17 NFTs of the film Sivaji: The Boss offered by NFT marketplace Diginoor.io in the price range of $99-1,500 were sold out.

NFT marketplace Fantico recently announced that Tamil actor Kamal Haasan will be offering 100-1,000 NFTs, including customised posters, avatars, among others. "...We are working on concept of metaverse and this will be exclusive where real connoisseurs can get in," Dhruv Saxena, chief strategy officer of Singapore-based Vistas Media that owns Fantico, had told Moneycontrol. Saxena said that the actual NFT drop might be launched by end December or early January.

Sunil Gavaskar was the first Indian sports star to endorse multiple brands and fructify his commercial potential beyond the field. Now, at 72, he continues to be a trendsetter. On October 11, the former Indian captain-turned-commentator announced a non-fungible tokens (NFTs) drop of the "Sunil Gavaskar collection" on his Instagram account.

Former cricketer Yuvraj Singh made the announcement of entering the NFT space on his 40th birthday on December 12. The World Cup-winning former India all-rounder said he is giving his fans “a big present” with the collection. The Yuvraj Singh NFT collection will be launched on December 25 on NFT platform Colexion. (Image: AFP)

Salman Khan-backed BollyCoin, a Bollywood-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform, has announced the launch of digital collectibles of the Dabangg franchise. The NFT marketplace will launch the NFTs on December 30. The collection will include movie clips, posters, and stills. (File image: Reuters)

Fashion designer Manish Malhotra too launched five NFTs of digital sketches of his creations. All five have been sold, with each going for $1,908.8 to $3,579. His NFTs include picture of Lisa Ray from 1998, a GIF file of a sketch of a chikankari ensemble once worn by actor Alia Bhatt, and a video from a fashion show in Mumbai in 2013.