Nora Fatehi, who impresses fans with her dance moves and acting skills, is known for her upfront personality. She recalled her experience in Bollywood recently and stated the industry is a lot like a high school clique. But since she dealt with it in the past, it makes it easier for her to get through. Also, she mentioned that foreign actors who fail in the industry are often the ones who don’t learn Hindi or other language in India.
In a candid interview with film critic and journalist Rajeev Masand held as part of the 15th edition of the Indian Film Festival Of Melbourne, the actress recounted her journey in the Hindi film industry and her challenges.
Nora Fatehi was born and raised in Canada and lived in Saudi Arabia for a few years. She stated that during the years of her high school in those countries, she came across students who had formed their cliques, and they didn’t want the new person to enter their group.
Given her understanding of that situation, she feels that Bollywood is similar and felt like living in it again when she entered the industry. However, she used that experience to make her way in the industry.
She said, “It’s (Bollywood) a little bit worse than high school since most of these cliques grew up together from day one. But when you’ve done it once, it feels like you can do it again. Since you’re an outsider, if you don’t prove yourself or learn Hindi, assimilate and prove to them that ‘hey, I can be like you guys,’ there’s no way in.”
The Madgaon Express actress mentioned that she doesn’t blame Bollywood because it’s like a company, and to grow here, she needs to have knowledge and experience. Consequently, when her fellow models went out to clubs and enjoyed themselves, she studied and made graphs on the industry.
The research made the Bharat actress realize that when a new person in the Industry can’t continue with their success, they disappear after a year or more. She said, “That’s also when I understood one thing: if a foreigner came into Bollywood and they didn’t make it, most of the time it’s because they didn’t learn the language (Hindi) or didn’t assimilate.”
Nora explained that those foreign actors try to maintain the fact that they are American or Canadian and want people to know it. However, their language and accent eventually make people realize that foreign actors are outsiders, which can be why they didn’t succeed.
