Nora Fatehi, the Canada-born Bollywood actor and dancer known for her hit dance tracks, revealed that she was not compensated for popular songs like ‘Dilbar’ and ‘Kamariya,’ despite struggling to afford basic necessities like food and rent.
In a recent interview, she shared her journey in Bollywood, where she faced exploitation early in her career. Although she became a prominent performer with chart-topping hits such as ‘Dilbar,’ ‘Kamariya,’ ‘O Saki,’ ‘Kusu Kusu,’ and ‘Manike,’ she disclosed that she did not receive payment for some of these popular tracks while she was living hand-to-mouth.
Struggling in India since 2014, Fatehi gained fame with ‘Dilbar’ in 2018, followed by ‘Kamariya’ the same year. She revealed that she was on the verge of leaving the country when these opportunities arose. Even though she wasn’t paid, she chose to participate in these projects to prove herself and establish her name in the industry.
“When I met the creators of these two songs… which I never got paid for, by the way, I did them for free,” she explained. “I made that choice because I believed it wasn’t the right time for me to earn money; it was the right time to prove myself and work with credible people.”
The songs were part of films produced by notable production houses, including Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films for ‘Stree’ and T-Series for ‘Satyameva Jayate,’ which featured renowned actors John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee.
“At that time, prioritizing these opportunities made more sense than focusing on making money, even though, trust me, I needed it. I needed money, but I thought, ‘It’s okay, let’s focus on this first,'” Fatehi recounted.
The ‘Bigg Boss’ alum also shared that she struggled to pay her rent right before filming these songs and often went without food. “I went through a phase where I was so skinny and borderline anorexic because I didn’t have money to eat,” she admitted, attributing her financial struggles to exploitation by a modeling agency targeting foreign models like herself.
On the professional front, Nora Fatehi is looking forward to the release of her debut Telugu film, ‘Matka,’ starring Varun Tej and Meenakshi Chaudhary. She was last seen in Kunal Khemu’s directorial debut, ‘Madgaon Express.’
