THE SIGN OF BEING A FAN

Hundreds of celeb autographs are on display in the city, all thanks to some dedicated fans and signature collectors

Iam a big fan of yours. Could you please give me your autograph?’ While most of us have experienced such a fan moment at least once in life when face to face with a famous personality we admire, how many go on to preserve the prized possession for generations to come?

A total of 600 signatures — of filmstars, politicians, sportspersons, businessmen and even nobel laureates — from the collections of 15 collectors in the city will be displayed in 50 frames at an exhibition, Autographex-2015.

One of the collectors and the president of the Delhi chapter of Autograph Collectors Club of India that has organised the showcase, Venkatesh Das Agrawal — who has an envious collection of 5,000 autographs — says, “Our objective is to preserve our heritage and history for future generations. I’ve been collecting autographs since childhood but decided to exhibit when I showed an autograph of Ghanshyam Das Birla to my 17-year-old son, and he was clueless about him. I was shocked.”

As for 26-yyear-old Amarjeetj Singh, his collection is an attempt to preserve memories of iconic filmstars. “I started collecting autographs of celebs visiting Delhi three years ago. Behind every sign is a story that stays with me,” says Singh, whose collection has around a 1,000 signatures, including some from Hollywood stars such as Jackie Chan, to whom Singh wrote letters requesting an autograph.

The exhibitors also have interesting family frames and collages such as autographs of everyone from the Bachchan family, by Praful Thakkar,, a retired IAS officer from Gujarat. “I have also incorporated my hobby of numismatics and philately. So the autograph of freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali, for instance, is with her photo and a ten rupee currency note with the number corresponding with her date of birth,” says Thakkar.