DOPPLEGANGER LIVES

How does it feel to be someone else? To submerge your identity in another person’s? Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt’s body doubles talk about what it means to be them on and off the camera.

Movies are a form of deceit. What you see on the screen is often concocted to look real. Those big buildings on the screen, could be miniatures, blown up through special effects to look larger than life. Or an actor walking through amazing backdrops, could merely be someone walking across or standing in front of a blue or green screen known as a chroma, and the backdrop is inserted during editing. In keeping with the deception, that actor performing amazing stunts is usually not the star but his or her body double, but you’re fooled into thinking otherwise. Sometimes the star has clashing dates and the double may be called in to do a scene, with the camera at a safe distance so that the actual identity is not revealed. Occasionally, you do have a close up and still cannot make out the difference, thanks to the make- up and wardrobe specialists who do a wonderful job and of course, the emulating skills of the body double. Witness the work of Prashant Walde 46, who is Shah Rukh Khan’s double and Krupali Madhvi, Alia Bhatt’s look alike, who have had you fooled in some of the blockbusters of these stars.

These doubles don’t live the charmed lives of the ones they copy, but they do have careers and are recognized for their work in Bollywood. Often they are hailed on the street as the star, but on closer look, are dismissed as mere copy cats. Do they feel humiliated by those dismissals? Although, sometimes, it pays to be in someone else’s skin. In the absence of the original, fans mob them for selfish, satisfying themselves that somehow they have connected with their icon. This deception works at all levels, keeping the fans as well as the duplicates satisfied, particularly if it bankrolls the latter’s lifestyle.

PRASHANT WALDE

Shah Rukh Khan, who, ironically, made a film called Duplicate, where he plays himself as well as his own double, has a 46-year-old duplicate, whom he calls `beta’. At least that is what Prashant Walde says.

Walde is from Nagpur. He dropped out of B.A. during his second year and got himself a diploma in engineering. He did the odd job subsequently, but his heart was set on being an entertainer. So in 2001 he formed his own dance troupe. That is when he noticed that people started calling him SRK’s look- alike. Gradually, the organisers of these events asked him to dance and deliver Shah Rukh’s famous dialogues, on stage. It got him the attention. “People used to crowd around me after the shows and ask for autographs”, he says. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. Pursue a career in the city of dreams, like his idol, Shah Rukh Khan, had.

At that moment he wanted to carve a niche for himself as an actor. Leaving his wife and young son in Nagpur, he headed to Mumbai for that elusive `break’. It was a struggle, he says. He had no godfather. The break came in the form of a Kurkure ad with Juhi Chawla, as Shah Rukh Khan’s look-alike. After that he was offered Om Shanti Om as his double again. And then there was no looking back.

Walde calls SRK his “inspiration”, his “godfather”, having “ learnt everything” from him. “He calls me beta and his office, Red Chillies, gives me a lot of respect”, he says. Walde has no training as SRK’s body double, but learns by just observing him on set and on the screen. He says he never refuses any stunt and some of them could be life threatening. “I do whatever I am given”, he says. “SRK is my guru. He trusts me. Main karta raha , karta raha and that is how I learnt my craft”.

It was due to SRK’s encouragement, says Walde, that he was able to branch out as a writer, producer and actor of his own production; a horror flick titled Prematur . He played the lead in it opposite his wife. The film held its premiere on May 2021 at PVR in City Mall, Mumbai and was subsequently released in 150 halls, he says. Many people from Red Chillies came and gave him a standing ovation after the film, he says. It is currently available on the OTT channels, Hungama and MX Players.

To look like SRK’s body double, Walde has a fitness regime. He does not aim for SRK’s photogenic six pack look (as in Pathan), but spends his spare time, after a busy schedule of shoots and shows, exercising in the gym and practising stunts and sword fights.

There’s also the flip side to this career. Occasionally people accuse him of having the airs of a hero, when he was “just a body double”. For them, Red Chillies has a ready answer, he says: “He’s only doing his job”.

Some people suggest that he should establish his own identity, he muses, but the irony is that he’s already done that, as a film maker and actor. Prematur would not have happened if he had not made a success of himself as SRK’s body double. In future too he wants to continue making his own films, while sticking to his SRK profile. Identity crisis? What’s that, he laughs.

KRUPALI MADHVI

Twenty- three- year old Krupali Madhvi started out as a modelling aspirant. She signed up for an ad. After her costume change and make-up, the cameraman, who was checking the frame, exclaimed in surprise. He told her she looked a lot like Alia, right up to the crooked front tooth! Would she consider being her body double, she was asked. At that time she had no idea what that meant, says Krupali. But she agreed and her first ad was for Make My Trip. “While I can't claim to have discovered stardom”, she says, “Many people now recognize me as Alia's body double, which is more than enough for me.”

Though she didn’t aspire to become a celebrity, she has gained some of that status as the ‘other’ Alia. But this young Psychology graduate with a certification program in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), is interested in the “intricacies of shooting and behind-the-scenes aspects of the industry”.

Krupali has worked as Alia’s body double in some scenes in Gangubai Kathiawadi (you won’t believe it was her and not Alia!) Darlings as well as in Dharma productions’ Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.

As far as her relationship with the star is concerned, she says that “Alia ma’am treats me exceptionally well and our interactions on set are always filled with warm greetings, eye contact and smiles”. Like Walde, she learns to emulate her star by watching her on the sets , where she observes her movements and mannerisms closely. Her fitness regime is not the same as Alia’s but the star’s dedication to it “inspires her, ” she says.

A psychology major is inspired by a high school graduate! It couldn’t get more ironical. But while the latter continues to climb the ladder of stardom, the former is studying digital courses, “to further her creative impulses.” The roles may be reversed some day, when “Alia ma’am” has her doppleganger calling the shots from behind the camera!