Nora Fatehi on her Bollywood struggles: ‘I developed thicker skin because social media can kill you’

    In a recent interview, actress and trained dancer Nora Fatehi opened up about developing a thick skin in order to survive in Bollywood

    <p>Nora Fatehi</p>

    Nora Fatehi

    Nora Fatehi returned to the silver screen today with Kunal Kemmu's directorial debut Madgaon Express, which has garnered great acclaim. In a recent interview during promotions, the actress candidly discussed her journey, disclosing the challenges she faced, sharing her approach to navigating the industry. Nora emphasized that she has cultivated resilience to persevere and thrive in the demanding entertainment industry.

    Talking to The Indian Express, Nora opened up about how one can not be type casted and added, “It is hard to say. It is not a one-dimensional answer because you can’t blame them, that’s all they know. It’s to typecast people and that’s it. It’s also like people don’t have time to discover you and explore you. People are too busy trying to make their next big hit, trying to mingle with the big stars, trying to do things. So, I don’t blame anybody but it is on me. It is my job to prove to people time and time again that ‘hey, I am multifaceted, I can do this, I can do that, give me the chance’ so, that’s my problem and I took that head on. For that you have to work on yourself also, because no actor, no artiste is perfect.”

    Opening up about judging reality shows and making music videos, all at once, Nora said, “I consider myself an artiste because I do a lot of things — I dance, I sing, I produce, I judge — I am a personality, a public figure. I don’t expect people to wake up one morning and go like, ‘haan, Nora can do it all’. I have to show it to them. For that, I need to have my eggs in different baskets, not in just one basket. This has helped me avoid the zone of depression, darkness and negativity, specially if work is not happening. These phases happen to actors, I see my actor friends go through that.”

    Opening up further about her friends, she adds, “For example if the box office doesn’t happen, one bad Friday, they break down; if for six to eight months they don’t have another project, like a cycle of back-to-back projects, they break down. When I used to see some of my actor friends go through that, they are big stars by the way, I never want to be that person. This life is too short, you have to have an aura about you, you have to have positivity about you. I can’t allow the industry to break me like that, so I developed thicker skin because social media can kill you. I decided that, hey I want to act, yes, I love cinema that’s why I came here, however I like to do other things too. That’s what allowed me to be this positive person in the industry and be kind of relevant. Through that journey, you get people who go, ‘oh, she can do that, let me try her for this film, let me call her for this.’ It takes time, you have to be resilient, you have to be patient.”