Nora Fatehi is a model & actress, well known for her electric dance moves and super hot looks. Her song Dilbar made her famous in a day when it crossed about 20 million views and created a record. The song was then followed by back-to-back hit songs in which she puts the screen on fire.
Nora had always been attracted towards a career in films even though she wasn’t allowed to. Whenever she told her father that she wanted to be an actress, he used to shut her up & ask her to strive to be a lawyer, doctor, or teacher. She participated in all extracurricular activities in school, took drama classes, did theatres, but never let her family smell it. They never knew that she was taking part in things of her interest because she scored good grades.
After her parents divorced, Nora was left with the responsibilities of her younger brother. She stepped up to be the breadwinner of her family. Nora was 16 and in high school at the time, so she used to work after her classes. She started earning by working as a retail sales associate in a mall. She worked in the men’s section, and she used to sell suits, put outfits together & do other works like that.
Then she switched to waitressing at restaurants, bars, and shawarma places. Working there was tough as she had to show her communication skills, be fast, have a good memory, and handle rude customers. She also worked in telemarketing, where she cold-called people to sell lottery tickets. 90 out of 100 times, people used to hang up. She worked at Mcdonald’s, worked on commission, made hookahs at hookah bars - she worked 3-4 years to support her brother financially.
Then she realized that it’d been four years since she had done anything to achieve her dream. So she contacted an agency.
The agency had a guy called Tipu who asked her if she wanted to make her career in Bollywood. Nora & her friends grew up watching Bollywood movies; Devdas is her favourite. She liked the idea of acting, dancing, singing, being beautiful, India, Bollywood, and SRK. Without giving it a thought, she said yes. She informed her friends that she’s going to Bollywood in a week.
When she came to India, she thought she’d be welcomed to Bollywood with luxuries. Instead, rudeness welcomed her. She was put in a room with eight cut-throat rude girls. She didn’t prepare to come to India and thought about language issues or any sort of rejections.
This made her initial struggle days very hard. She was bullied and harassed by people for being a foreigner. Her roommates even stole her passport in a few months, and she was crying in the embassy to allow her to stay. But she was deported. When she went back to Canada, people again laughed at her and called her naive and stupid.
She returned to India and started taking Hindi lessons for hours a day. She went for auditions, and when she used to say her lines, people would laugh at her face for her Hindi. The behaviour used to break her heart, and she used to spend hours crying about it. Then collect herself, and start working on herself again.
Her first ad in dove made her feel better. She didn’t like how her agency was handling her, so she decided to leave them. They refused a repayment, and she lost 20 Lakhs she made from ad campaigns. But she let it go for her benefit. She struggled for five years straight before she finally got some opportunities.
Nora looks at herself as an artist. She wants to act, dance & sing. During her struggle days, she lacked enough means to learn the skills. Therefore, to learn dance, she used to lock herself in a room & learn dance by aping some performers on YouTube. She was interested in belly dancing and aped Didem’s (Turkish belly dancer) moves for hours. She also practiced Madhuri’s & Beyonce’s songs.
Nora Fatehi took whatever opportunity she got and gave it her best. Her co-stars in Roar: Tigers of The Sundarbans encouraged her and told her to keep hustling & believe in herself until she makes it big. When she started getting item numbers, she did them with full dedication. For her, it isn’t an item number she’s doing. Instead, she perceives them to be performance-oriented. When she meets her choreographers, she asks them to make the choreography tough. She thinks that her audience expects tough dances from her as otherwise, anyone could justify the song.
Nora Fatehi made an impactful appearance in the movie Batla House. Not just was her song a hit, her pivotal role in the movie was also well performed. She wants to create a history in the industry, and with her ambition and determination, she is on her way to do just that.
