Nora Fatehi lived with ‘9 Psychopaths’ during Early Days

Nora Fatehi opened up about her early struggles when she first arrived in India, revealing her “traumatic” living situation.

She recalled: “I came to India with only Rs 5,000 (£47) in my pocket. I didn’t even know what 1,000 dollars was like.”

Nora went on to explain that she shared an apartment in Mumbai with nine other young women. However, living with them was not a good experience.

She continued: “I lived with nine psychopaths in a three BHK apartment where I shared the room with two other girls.

“During my stay there, I used to think, ‘What have I got myself into?’ I am still traumatised.”

The 32-year-old also highlighted the “rough experience” with agencies who paid her poor salaries.

“The agency would deduct a lot of money and pay me meagre salaries. I survived on one egg and bread.

“It was a rough time. I needed therapy. The struggle was really bad.

“They would charge you a commission and deduct money for even breathing.”

“Some of the agencies exploit you and there are no laws to protect you.”

Nora Fatehi has frequently spoken about her initial struggles in showbiz and previously, she said she was told to date certain actors for “publicity”.

She explained: “I was constantly told, ‘Oh, you know, you should date specific people and date for PR and date this actor and that actor’.

“I never listened to any of that, and I’m so glad because now I make the rules, and I work on my own terms, and my success is not because of another guy next to me or another hero that I’m hanging on to.

“It’s on my own, and everyone else is just a plus. So I’m very proud of that.”

On the other things she did not listen to, Nora said:

“A lot of things I didn’t listen to and a lot of them are the reasons why I am who I am today.

“One was, don’t do songs.

“Another one is, don’t do reality shows.

“Another is, you know, I remember there was this one person who, after the success of ‘Dilbar’, I was saying, ‘Alright, now I want to also focus on opening up another market. I want to go international. Let’s do here, let’s do outside’.

“And the response I got was, ‘Okay, no, focus on one thing, that’s it’.

“You know, so I didn’t like that response, so I went on and started doing international stuff at the same time, and I’m doing it both, and it’s working great for me.”