Tollywood dream forces Bangla youth to cross border

Youngsters from different parts of the country going to Mumbai to get a foothold in Bollywood are quite common. But this could be the first time when a youth from Bangladesh Md Badal Islam had fled from home for his career in the film industry in West Bengal. 

Badal had fled from his house at Baora village in Gazipur. Finding no other option to enter India, he had boarded Moitree Express. But his dream came to an end before he could have managed to reach Kolkata. 

He was caught at Gede station on Thursday morning. The security personnel found him moving around aimlessly at the station and it led to their suspicion. They approached the youth and took him to their office. 

Instead of giving any false statement, Badal told the officers of the Railway Protection Force that he was from Bangladesh and came to India to build his career in Tollywood. The RPF officers were surprised to listen to the youth as this was the first time when they had found someone who had crossed the border “illegally” to be an actor.   

He told the security personnel at Gede station that he acted in many dramas in his village and had always dreamt of acting as a lead actor of a movie. He also told that he heard from some actors that the film industry in West Bengal has witnessed a boom in the past few years and there is a need for new youth in the industry. Thus the scope of getting an opportunity is also more in Tollywood. 

He had taken the desperate step of crossing the border after a person had not kept his words despite promising help to get an opportunity to act in a movie or small screen programmes. 

He continued asking help of the security personnel to reach Kolkata despite being told that he would be arrested for crossing the border illegally. He was finally arrested. 

Sources said that youth had also told the security personnel that he didn’t have any intension of committing crime after sneaking into the country. The police are verifying his statements and necessary steps will be taken if his claims are found to be true.