Iconic Door Prop That Kept Rose Alive In 'Titanic' Sells For Staggering Rs 5.9 Crore

The floating piece of wood that kept the character of Rose alive in James Cameron's 'Titanic' has been sold for $718,750 (Rs 5,99,25,637) at an auction, the BBC reported. The wooden panel was used in the 1997 film as a makeshift raft for Kate Winslet's character. The auction specified that it was a part of the door frame located just above the ship's first-class lounge entrance. The prop measures approximately eight feet long and nearly three and a half feet wide and is reinforced with hardwood.

According to the New York Times, the bidding opened at $90,000 and soared to $575,000 in just over five minutes. The final price was $718,750. The winning bidder, who attended the auction in person, wishes to remain anonymous, a Heritage Auctions spokesman said. 

Ever since the film was released, the panel of wood has been a source of controversy with movie enthusiasts wondering if it was big enough to fit Jack as well. Notably, a scene in 'Titanic' showed the fictional Jack, played by Leonardo Di Caprio sacrificing himself by letting Rose cling to the wood while he stayed in the freezing water.

Many fans argue that Jack could have been saved because there was enough space on the door for both the main characters. Jack later died in the freezing Atlantic, with his body falling into the depths of the ocean. 

Heritage Auctions, which handled the sales, also made a note of the controversy, saying: "The iconic prop has caused much debate from fans, many of whom have argued that the floating wood panel could have supported both Jack and Rose - making his fateful decision to stay in the frigid water an empty gesture. Cameron would later engage in a scientific study to prove that this plot point was more than just a convenient narrative device."

In 2012, Titanic director James Cameron addressed the debate saying Jack had to die according to the script. ''Maybe we screwed up and the board should have been a tiny bit smaller, but the dude's going down,'' he said. 10 years later, Mr Cameron conducted "a thorough forensic analysis" to prove Jack couldn't fit on it.

''We took two stunt people who were the same body mass as Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them and inside them and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was, there was no way they both could have survived. Only one could survive," Mr Cameron explained.

"He needed to die. It's like Romeo and Juliet. It's a movie about love sacrifice and mortality. The love is measured by the sacrifice,'' the director said when asked if he regretted the movie's ending. 

About 1,600 items, including the whip from 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' a bowling ball from 'Kingpin' and the axe from 'The Shining,' were also sold at the auction. Heritage Auctions said in a statement that the event ''shattered expectations'' and set a record for the company's auctions of movie props and costumes, drawing more than 5,500 bidders from around the world.