Bollywood Queen Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) is having face of the speedy selling firecrackers this Deepavali in Lucknow. Photos of Bollywood Stars on the boxes of firecrackers is not new. New is the face of bollywood star on the cover of the boxes which is determined by the reputation and popularity of the star. And this year the face which is dress up and decorate most of packets of the firecrackers is Kareena Kapoor Khan and Salman Khan.
Dilsher Azad from Azad Fireworks of Aishbagh shares said, "This year Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) is most favourite Actress of firework manufacturers. She is seen on most of the cracker boxes and also bollywood stars like Asin, Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya will also seen on the box."
Azad says about the Hollywood Stars on cracker boxes, "Among all Hollywood Actors, we have from Harry Potter, Titanic and Bruce Lee. For attracting kids we have cartoon pictures and wrestlers from WWF are on boxes."
Another firecracker retail dealer of Aishbagh, Mohd Hussain says, "Other than film stars, pictures of cricketers are also very popular on the box of firecrackers, "At first sachin's pictures was seen mostly on the boxes but now Dhoni is most popular and lovable cricketer seen on the boxes."
Movies like Chennai Express and Grand Masti 2. And Salman Khan's Dabangg pose is also a popular on the firecracker boxes.
In this year a whole new range of crackers have been introduced, it includes the Jumbo Flower, Bajrang Bomb, Photo Flash and also a Crorepati bomb in honour of Amitabh Bachchan and the TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
According to dealer Syed Waqar Ahmed of Shaan-e-Avadh fireworks Nakkhas, the price of the cracker attracts buyers, not the face of any star.
Ahmed says, "Bollywood Actress Kareena Kapoor is the most popular and most lovable face on firecrackers this year, But I personally believe that photos of celebrity on boxes of crackers don't matter much, customers buy the product based on its function and not the packaging."
Crackers are available as cheap as 10 in the market this year but shopkeepers are not happy with the sales. Noor Ali from Rajdhani Fireworks says, "The range of crackers starts from 10 and can go up to 10,000. The costliest cracker available in the market is a flare of 10,000 which gives a thousand shots in different colors but till now we have had only a few buyer for t'hat type of firecrackers as compared to last years."
Another firecracker dealer, Mahendra Gupta from Hindustan Fireworks in Nakkhas says, "Till now the sale is not very good and encouraging. We noticed that this year 40% decrease in sale of crackers . Few days are left for Diwali then also business has not been too good."
Ahmed says, the reason for this is that "There is a 10-15% rise in rates of crackers this year, which has resulted in a 25-30% decrease in sales. It is because of rising inflation and falling rupee. Hope the situation will improve during these days of deepavali."
