V is for 'Vaada karo, nahin chhodogi tum mera saath'

I think it was the year Mom broke the news to me. Along with my heart.

She told me that Meena Kumar's dancing feet in Pakeezah belonged to Padma Khanna.

*GASP*

And that was my shocking introduction to the world of body doubles. And that's also when I started questioning everything I saw in the movies.

Now this song, from the 1973 movie Aa Gale Lag Ja, is a very popular and catchy song, made catchier by the fact that the two main leads, dressed up as Aladdin and Jasmine, performed the entire song on roller skates.

Or did they? *suspenseful music*

As a kid, I'd heard the song a million times on the radio (and loved it with all my heart, and still do), but seen it only once or twice. After finding out about body doubles, I'd started wondering if Shashi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore really knew how to skate (back then, it was an otherworldly skill to me). I remembered this song last week when I took Xena ice-skating. So I made a mental note about carrying out a proper investigation into this ghotala.

So let's get cracking.

Okay, so it's obvious that he is a decent skater...

...and it's also obvious that she can't skate very well. In fact, throughout the song, you will see that she prefers to strut instead. Now the real question is -- is she even wearing skates for the struting?

Looking at her confidence in this dance move, I'd say maybe not.

And that's most definitely not her! Body double to the rescue!

But soon, you realise that okay, she can skate a bit. But thanks to the clever choreography, her amateur moves are all tucked away. Whenever she's about to fall, he comes to her rescue, and it's masked as a dance move.

And when he's not there, the bar is. 

Nothing like a bar to pick you up when you're down, eh? Any kinda bar. 

Suddenly you realise that they are actually in a skating competition. With judges and trophies and shit. 

No wonder they decide to up their game... by incorporating random acts of violence into their skating. He shoots her veil off. 

But she's not the one to take it lying down. She comes at him with a knife, but he manages to protect himself. Using nothing but his... CHEST HAIR. Take that, lady!

C'mon, get your skates on and enjoy the ride.