“Wouldn’t say ‘no’ to that.”
Koel got up and fetched a bottle of white wine from the fridge. Now the shooting as well as the publicity of the film was going so good and for that Kaderbhai had arranged a few perks for all the members of his team. A well stacked fridge was one of them. She opened it, poured two glasses and handed one to Porimoni.
“What do you want to toast to?” Koel asked?
“How about to enduring success for the both of us?”
“I’ll drink to that.”
They quickly got into a conversation about pretty much everything. They felt at ease with each other and the wine helped to let their tongues loose. After a while of happy chit-chatting, Koel couldn’t help making a small confession.
“You should know ‘Pori’ that I’m quite envious of you. You are so upbeat, positive and radiant. Everyone here at Tollygunge, even my husband, immediately fell for you. I don’t know if this maybe sounds kind of corny, but it’s like when you enter a room, it gets much brighter and happier.”
“Thank you Koeldi,” was all Porimoni could say.
She couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but it was something about Koel’s confession that moved the glamorous Bangladeshi heroine. As an actress, she got a lot of praises all the time from random strangers and people sucking up to her but Koel’s remarks somehow felt very honest and exceptional.
She knew when she looked at Koel that she really meant it. Actually Porimoni had always tried to be nice to people she met and to make them feel happy. It was very nice that someone from this Bangla at least once tried to make her really happy and proud.
She had her husband Kamruzzaman Roni of course and she really loved him but his career was nowhere nearly as successful as hers and it put a strain on their relationship. Right now however she didn’t want to think about that. She just wanted to happily chat away with her newfound Tolly friend.
Koel continued to compliment the bright young twenty-six yrs old heroine, and had a feeling that she really needed it. And like everyone, Porimoni also seemed very happy hearing her compliments from the Tollygunge heart-throb.
“Pori, I wish I could be a famous movie star like you. My career in movies at Tollygunge after my marriage is dwindling and not much to brag about.”
Porimoni was glad for the confession of Koel, although she couldn’t really agree with Koel’s praises. The movies she made in Bangladesh might be super hit but they didn’t give her nearly the same exposure as Koel.
“But, still Koeldi, I feel you are more the most demanding actress in Tollygunge as well as our country.”
“But I don’t feel about that.”
“Oh come on Koeldi, you are. I should be happy if someone recognizes me as the girl that showed her boobs in the foreign edition of ‘Bhalobasa’ for her NRI fans.”
Actually Porimoni wasn’t happy the way her filmy career was going on in Bangladesh and that’s why she tried her career in Tollygunge. Although she made a good living from her silver-screen show business, she was stuck in the same kind of roles. Still playing as a college girl lover almost all in her movies wasn’t something she had planned doing in her career.