In the early hours of June 26, 2009, my life as a former impersonator came shrieking back to mind as the world’s news channels went haywire. Jackson was no more, and nothing felt the same. For the next 48 hours, I stumbled through recollections of hours spent practising his every move before the slim mirror of a steel Godrej cupboard. With the Pause button of a VCR as guide, I remembered pushing my body to do things Jackson’s frame was built to do. I remembered those spotlights going on though, and crowds shrieking hysterically, making all that exhausting practice worthwhile. 

How did this sub-culture of celebrity impersonators come into being anyway? I assumed one could lay the blame for much of it at the feet of Elvis Presley. Even before he left the building in 1977, his look-alikes had started to appear across America. The idea of imitation was as old as time itself, but the sheer number of people attracted to it as a profession was new. From small town talent competitions to television appearances, the statistics increased with time, as if mirroring the rising status of their deceased original. 25 years after his death, some estimates placed the number of Presley impersonators at a staggering 30,000 worldwide. 

By the time I finally learnt to bust a move then, the idea of tribute artistes was fairly appealling. Faced with the monotony of a regular job as an intern at some media firm, I picked bright lights and fog machines instead. In doing so, I opened the doors to a strange new world populated by folk dancers, ventriloquists, mimicry artistes, stuntmen, and the odd tightrope walker. 

... contd.