Nora sought therapy after facing repeated rejection

Nora Fatehi recently spoke about her tough journey in

Bollywood

. In a conversation at

IFFM

in Melbourne with Rajeev Masand, she shared how, as a newcomer, she faced many difficult situations. Starting out, she met people who claimed they could help her but had hidden motives. Some promised to connect her with big production houses, but it often led to scary situations.
At the time, Nora was just 22 and new to India, having come from Canada. Without knowing anyone, she often trusted the wrong people, believing they had good intentions. “Now, I would be like ‘Why am I coming with you? What do you want from me? Clearly, nobody does anything for free but at that time, I was like ‘god sent this person to me’ and I followed a lot of idiots,” she said.
She learned that even when these individuals did introduce her to the right people, some of these people expected something in return, which made her feel unsafe. “It put me in really scary situations where, in the end, the person would be like ‘C’mon, what am I going to get out of this?’ and that led me into these scary situations where I either had to fight that person or it was really weird,” she recalled.

Nora

eventually learned to avoid appearing “desperate,” as it often invited trouble. Instead, she started saying she was open to acting but was also prepared to return home to study. This approach helped her avoid unwanted attention.
The

rejection

she faced was hard on her

mental health

, and Nora sought

therapy

to cope. She recalled people asking if she wanted to be the “next Katrina Kaif,” making her dream seem impossible. “I did seek therapy because when you get a lot of rejection, which I got a lot, a lot of you are not good enough, a lot of ‘you want to be the next Katrina Kaif?’ and I was like ‘this is terrible’,” she said.

She admitted it was a challenging time, but it made her stronger. Now, Nora has found success in Bollywood, but her journey taught her to be careful and stay true to herself.