Actor-dancer Nora Fatehi, opening up about the struggles she endured in her career and life, says that the people that she has met in her journey have been “vicious” and she is certain anyone in her place would have given up on their dreams.

The Canadian dancer began her big screen journey in India in 2014 with Hindi feature Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans. She was, however, first noticed a year later in SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster epic Baahubali: The Beginning, where she appeared in a song. Nora finally rose to fame with a special song, “Dilbar”, in John Abraham’s 2018 actioner Satyamev Jayate. The song was a recreation of the hit Sirf Tum track, featuring Sushmita Sen.

Nora’s electric screen presence and splendid dancing skills turned her into an online phenomenon soon after the song release. The dancer continued her hit streak with an appearance in Rajkummar Rao-starrer Stree (2018), Marjaavaan in 2019 and finally Street Dancer 3D with Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor, where the actor featured not only in songs but a substantial supporting role.

In a recent interview with Dubai-based YouTube show host Anas Bukhash, Nora broke down, recalling the difficulties she overcame to make her mark as a performer.

“You think you meet all these kind of people and realise the world is vicious but also… I will tell you why I cried because maybe other girls went through the same things as me and gave up. It’s so easy to give up. And I thought about the people I met, who really brought me down… Not in India, but everywhere. Even in Canada, where I was just hustling,” Nora says in the video that she shared on her Instagram page on Wednesday.

Further, the actor says if someone had to endure even half of the life’s harshness that she faced, they would have lost hope and the world would have to bid goodbye to “one more person who could make an impact.”

“I think that any girl or even a guy, who had gone though all that, would have been shattered. They would have lost hope. If a human loses hope, it’s the worst thing. I keep thinking that even if 50 percent of the things that I went through if a girl or a guy went through, it would have been one more person in the world that we would have lost. They could have been a great person, a person who made an impact, a difference in the world.”

On that note, Nora says that she firmly believes that people can rise up to challenges if they have “hope and confidence” instilled in them since the beginning. The actor appealed to parents around the world to encourage their children to face the world and communicate with them the realities of an adult life instead of imposing restrictions on them and providing a sheltered childhood that will only make them weak.

“I hope parents instil confidence and hope in kids to go out in the world. Rather than telling them not to do this or that or not wear this or not watch that, they should prepare kids for things like marriage, how to be with someone, how to be in the workplace because workplace can be really bad. It can either ruin you or make you for life. Most of the times it ruins you. It kills your personality, charisma and fills you with negativity. And then you inject the same negativity to your kids.”