Nora Fatehi. Photo: Collected
Nora Fatehi acts in films, judges dance reality shows, produces music videos and has a vibrant social media persona. The actor, who’ll be seen in Kunal Kemmu‘s Madgaon Express, has opened up about how she’s had to develop a thick skin to survive in the industry and on social media.
In an interview, Nora spoke about how the industry can typecast people but she doesn’t blame anyone, and continues to work on herself and several projects all at once to not let the pressure get to her. She explains how she has seen her actor friends going through depression if their films didn’t work at the box office or if they could not find work regularly.
When asked how she’s navigating the industry and whether the industry doesn’t take her seriously because she is a dancer, she says she doesn’t have a “one-dimensional” answer to it.
Nora says to not be typecast and to find work, one needs to work on themselves. She said, “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.”
Nora judges dance reality shows, makes music videos, and acts in films. Explaining why she does several things all at once, she says, “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, 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, especially if work is not happening. These phases happen to actors, I see my actor friends go through that.”
Opening up further about how she has seen her actor friends going through depression when things don’t work out for them, she says, “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 were big stars by the way, I never wanted 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.”
Talking about Madgaon Express, an out-and-out comedy, Nora says, “I always wanted to do comedy. Inherently I’m a funny person, or at least that’s what I would like to think. I did a lot of funny skits and content on social media before I became relevant in the industry. It’s something I enjoyed and I got to connect with people a lot through that. People got to see that I have a certain personality. I enjoyed doing that. To be able to do that, come back into the comedy space, it felt so good. I am not only challenging myself as a performer but also enjoying myself. The whole environment, the situation, the whole vibe is just so funny.”
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