‘Dilbar’ girl Nora Fatehi is known for her desirable looks and unmatched dancing skills. While Nora may have become a household name over the years, not many know about her struggle story. On her birthday, let’s have a look at some of the struggles Nora had to face before making it big in B-Town-
#1 Nora’s mother was against her moving to India-
Nora comes from a conservative Arabic-Moroccan family. In an interview, Nora claimed that as a kid, she used to dance in her room secretively because her mother didn’t like it. Having grown up watching Bollywood movies, Nora had a deep desire to be a part of the Hindi film industry. However, when she told her mother that she wanted to move to India to try her luck in Bollywood, her mother was completely against it. Nora’s mother was adamant that she should stay back and get married, but Nora being a go-getter chose to take the risk anyway. This decision caused a strain on her relationship with her parents for a while.
#2 She was cheated of Rs. 20 lakhs by a casting agency-
In an interview, Nora had opened up about how a casting agency had ill-treated her and cheated her of money. She said, “I remember my first agency which I came from Canada to India. That agency was really aggressive with their models in terms of behavior and stuff, and I didn’t feel like I was guided the right way.”
She further added that she wanted to leave them as she felt that they weren’t doing their job. However, when she brought up her concern, the agency said that they won’t give her a refund. She said, “When I wanted to leave, they said okay, but we’re not gonna give you your money. That was at that time Rs. 20 lakhs.”
She also said that this was something many casting agencies did with girls who came from other countries in search of job opportunities.
#3 She suffered from a phase of depression-
In another interview, Nora opened up about her battle with depression and how she had lost her drive for nearly two months. Nora said that she had a phase where she went from audition to audition, and nothing fruitful was coming out of it. She was also going through some turbulence in her personal life, which made things worse.
#She was bullied during auditions-
When Nora started out her career, she had to face a lot of bullying from casting agents. Having come from a different country, people used to say mean things to Nora, like “Why are you here?”, “Your Hindi is sh*t”, “We have too many people like you”, “Go back to your country”, and so on.
Despite the struggles, Nora has established herself as a skillful dancer, performer, and actor. She is truly an inspiration to many aspiring actors with no connections in the industry. We wish Nora a very Happy Birthday, and hope to see more of her soon!
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