On reaching Heer's place, everyone got out. Heer murmured a thank you to the chauffer and then turned round to face Prem. Fari pretended that her boot was stuck in the snow and bent down.
"Thanks again Mr Prem Juneja" Heer's voice sounded very loud in the cold crisp night air.
Prem paused just long enough to savour her voice. The strong voice that she hadn't really let him hear but that he suspected she had as an actor. It was beautifully modulated. If only she said more! He would take those words back with him and replay them a hundred times.
Fari realised she couldn't fumble with her boot forever and stood up to see why there was silence. The chauffer had sensibly slipped back behind the wheel and was warming his hands in front of the heater.
"Thank you Heer Maan, for coming to dinner. Have you got a play running that I can come and see?"
"She's auditioning tomorrow in the West End at Drury Lane right Heer? Oh she's great! Always gets the part too!" Fari was all excited but Heer cut in. "It's an audition, not open to the public. Check back next week when the play runs, I might be in it."
"And the name of this play?" "Paper Moon"
"Aaye Rabba! What kind of play is that? I've never heard of it on Broadway!"
Heer was at the end of her tether by the time Prem finally waved goodbye and Fari was safely indoors, warming her feet on the radiator.
"UNBELIEVABLE!!!"
Fari had never seen Heer go red with rage but this was getting close.
"Why did you have to tell him the time and place of the audition. I can't stand this shameless self-promotion!"
"Oh stop! Why all this screaming? Besides you said it's closed to the public."
"Yeah! But the play opens there in a week!"
"Oh and who told him the name of the play?" Fari pointed dramatically at Heer.
"Now Heer, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find a pair of your thickest socks and hit the sack."
Heer was left standing with her mouth open in disbelief while Fari sauntered off to bed.
The whole night, Heer tried to sleep but now the tiredness was preventing sleep. She got up, made some coffee and stared at the TV. Flicking channels she stopped to watch Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr frolic on the beach. A classic romantic moment but Heer could never really see it as anything more than two actors doing a carefully rehearsed scene. How many retakes? She always wondered, and even now smiled. No chemistry there, as far as she could see. She wondered about the next day's audition. She was usually called for roles requiring an Asian and there were plenty of those these days. But tomorrow she was going for a lead role that was non-specific about ethnicity. She couldn't wait!
Next morning Heer was dressed and wolfing down some toast when Fari crawled out of bed.
"Paper Moon? Is it about an actual moon?" Fari wasn't a morning person. Heer was.
"It's a metaphor"
"a what?"
"VERY FUNNY! it's a symbol of falseness. Fake, made up….get it?"
"So? Isn't all acting fake? Like your acting in front of PJ?"
"Acting is making something believable, it draws from reality, very close to real, as close as we can get it."
Heer wasn't falling for Fari's bait so Fari tried again," you blew PJ away!PHOOOOOOO! I could feel the electricity. Too bad it was all an act."
But Heer was out the door before Fari could finish the sentence.
5 hours later, while Fari moped about Biru, Heer called," I've got it!"
"Great! Oh we have to celebrate! I'll come meet you!"
At Leicester Square, the two friends met for lunch at a Chinese place. It was loud, full of students and had fantastic food.
"So rehearsals start tomorrow. I'm sorry I won't be able to hang out with you much. They can go till late at night." Heer looked genuinely sad, but Fari was happy for her friend. She had come to London on a hunch that Heer was for the first time unsettled by a man. What she had seen of Prem made her happy for Heer. But she knew her friend and all the signs said that she couldn't be happy for Prem.
The next day, while Heer was at rehearsals, Fari called Prem. "Prem Juneja's phone, Vandy speaking."
"Saxena! What is it with you women answering men's phones! Don't tell me
Prem's in the men's room, coz I'll personally come there now to check!"
"If you have a message I'll pass it on to Prem."
"Not bad! So Prem has a live voice mail service!"
"Message Kapoor! Else I'm hanging up!"
"Yeah tell him to call back asap."
An hour later Prem called Fari," sorry Fari, lost my phone again and Vandy found it as usual. What's going on?"
"Oh just wanted to tell you that Heer got the part and she starts next week."
"Great! Will she mind if I go see the play?"
"Mind? Why would she mind? And anyway, she can't dictate who goes to see the play. It's a free country last time I checked."
Prem chuckled,"Oh and by the way, I'm not going to NY on Friday. I'm sending Vandy instead. She can handle it. I'm just so darn fed up with these trans-atlantic flights. Don't want to see NY for a year! No offense."
Fari had a smile that could have stretched from London to NY. "Masterstroke bro! Can I call you bro?"
A week later the opening night was approaching. Heer was as prepared as she always was. The stage felt like home, whenever she stepped on it her world shrank immediately. Nothing existed outside of it. She lost all awareness of the audience and the people backstage. Even the prompter who stood in the wing and quietly intoned the lines as required was a hazy presence. All she could see was herself and her fellow actors onstage.
Opening night was better than expected. Reviewers would of course come for a few more nights before writing a piece that could make or break careers. But Heer never lived in fear of reviews. She didn't seek fame.
Fari had sat through a strange take on a woman who lived a lie and finally couldn't recognise the truth. But Heer as a deluded rich woman, who lived in a world of her own was brilliant. Fari could barely recognise her friend. The words she spoke, the body language, it was like it was someone from another age. But her main mission was to look out for PJ. After a lot of neck-craning and apologising to the people either side of her, Fari caught sight of him on the balcony. He had the best seat in the house! Not bad!
After thecurtain call, Fari made her way to the lobby where the stairs to the balcony were. Prem was coming down with a thoughtful look. "She's very very good, your friend."
"I know! I taught her all she knows!" They both laughed. "Somehow I don't think what I saw is something you can learn."
"Heer was born with it. Always lost in a dreamworld, staring out the window, smiling to herself….not that she's loony or anything!"
"No no, far from loony. More artistically driven?" Prem was only half joking now. He was on a mission of his own. He had to get to know Heer. The real Heer.
"Fari, do me a favour, don't tell Heer I came. "
"why? "
"I don't think she'll be pleased. And this is opening night, I don't want to spoil it for her."
Fari thougt for a minute and nodded. Prem walked out of the theatre just as Heer found Fari.
Hindi TV Shows
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
