Former Bollywood actor and No More Tears NGO founder Somy Ali is known to speak her mind. She is not one to mince her words and isn’t afraid of sharing her thoughts. Asked if Bollywood discourages women from being outspoken, she said, “Not at all. I think it encourages everyone and teaches everyone to lie while they know every single truth about any particular person.”
“Just don’t speak your mind is the motto,” she added. Somy mentioned that only Salman Khan didn’t care about the media and spoke his mind. She said, “He said it like it was, and it hurt me and many others, but he didn’t care. He got away with it because people salivated over him. He was also anti the media for a long time till he had to adapt under pressure from his producers to promote his films. However, if any reporter went to a question unrelated to the film, Salman would shut them up right away.”
She further pointed out that nowadays she has seen actors from Deepika Padukone to Jaya Bachchan tell the media to watch their mouths, and justifiably so. She said, “I believe the media goes overboard, and particularly now with the advent of social media, it’s gotten worse.”
“Also, lying and gossiping are the two main ingredients of Bollywood since its inception. Some are really good at it, and some were awful, like me. It’s all like what one of my favourite people in the whole world, Mithunda, says: no matter what, where, who, and how talented one is, if it’s not in your fate/naseeb, you won’t make it in that harsh world,” she added.
Talking about herself, Somy said that she needs to gauge the room and understand when to say what. She said, “I was unable to master that art and was a complete blabbermouth.
