TLI Staff
New Delhi: Somy Ali who landed in Mumbai in 1991 to “marry” her teenage crush Salman Khan looks back at her stint in Bollywood and said she still could not believe how she ended up doing ten films with the biggeest stars even when she had no interest in pursuing acting career.
Speaking of her journey in the industry, she said, “I would definitely not call myself a huge Bollywood star, however, my journey was quite serendipitous, to say the least. It is no secret why I landed in Mumbai as a teenager, it is still baffling to me how I ended up doing ten films with the biggest stars given I had absolutely no interest in pursuing an acting career. To sum it up, I was a naïve, gullible, and silly teenager with a ridiculous crush. I trusted and believed anything and everything the last person I hung out with told me to be the truth.”
Somy Ali had earlier said how she had this massive crush on Salman Khan after watching his movie Maine Pyaar Kiya and decided to go to India the very next day.
“Having said that, I made tons of mistakes solely based on the search for true love which I never actually found. The good thing is though that I have no regrets because I did things my way, no matter what the consequences were, and I did not worry about labels. I was bold, yet innocent, I was precocious, yet repeatedly found myself in scenarios that were the epitome of immaturity. In a nutshell, the journey was wild, fun, traumatic, filled with ups and downs from 16-24 years old. I left in December of 1999 after ending my relationship which is why I went to India,” she added.
Somy says acting was never her thing. “The keyword here is ‘actress’ and I never fit in that world so it’s not applicable to me. As for others, I get the high of fame and wanting to obtain it again and again. Who wouldn’t want to be famous and have people at their beck and call? That’s the world of showbiz isn’t it? Also, if this is what makes one happy and they are getting good work, then more power to them, I am happy for them. But it just isn’t and was never my thing,” she said.
“My skill set and my high is to save lives and by no means am I disrespecting or undermining the brilliance and talent of actors. I just don’t miss that world. I must add that I have immense respect for actors who can do both, save lives and pursue their love for performance,” the Aao Pyaar Karen actress added.
Somy, who is based in Miami, confessed that though she doesn’t miss the industry, she misses India. She said, “I do miss India. It’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the opportunity of living in and traveling all over. I miss a few people who were kind to me and stood by me and when I say a few, I mean literally those I can count on my fingers.”