In 1991, at the age of 16, Somy Ali landed in Mumbai with the intention of marrying her teenage crush, Salman Khan. Cut to, a year later, not only did she meet him, but soon started dating him. The relationship ended in 1999, after which Somy returned to her home in the US and resumed her education. A few years later, she found her true calling with her organisation, No More Tears, which helps people, who are mentally or physically abused. Even before we began our conversation, she made it clear that returning to showbiz remains completely off the charts. “My aim in reaching out, is to make people in India aware that if they are a victim of abuse, we will help you. We have flown victims from India before and have helped them lead a happy life,” she says. In a candid chat with Bombay Times, the former actress spoke about her years in Bollywood, her quest for love, and finally going back to where she belongs. Excerpts:

It was 1991 and I was 16. I saw Maine Pyar Kiya, and I went, “I have to marry this guy!’ I told my mom that I am going to India tomorrow. She, of course, sent me off to my room, but I kept pleading that I have to go to India and marry this guy — Salman Khan. That night, I had a dream that I have to go marry Salman because he is going to be my saviour. Since she wouldn’t relent, I called my dad. Of course, I didn’t tell him why I wanted to visit India.

I told my dad that we have relatives in Mumbai and I wanted to meet them. I also told him that my biggest dream is to see the Taj Mahal, which I must admit, I haven’t seen to this day (laughs!). I was born in Pakistan and had lived there for a few years before I move to Miami, so I spent a week there, and then landed in India and checked into a five-star hotel. People used to make fun of me because I was this “struggling actor”, who was staying at a plush hotel.

You know, it all happened in such a bizarre manner. I got my portfolio done by ace photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha, who asked me to go to certain production houses. When I went to a production house, strangely, Salman was there to meet some friends. I didn’t see him, but he saw me. They saw my pictures and called me as they were casting for a film titled Buland (unreleased). I auditioned for it and signed the film. After that, I got more films. It started off like a fairy tale, but unfortunately, it didn’t end that way. But, I met and worked with some amazing people like Saif Ali Khan, Chunky Panday, Mithun da, Suniel Shetty, Om Puri ji and Jeetendra ji. Ironically, my last film, which was with Om Puri ji, was titled Chupp (1997), and after that, I went completely chup and left India (laughs!).

I was every director’s nightmare and refused to go for rehearsals. I was different from others. I was too Americanised and too much of a tomboy. I was such a misfit in the film industry. I had no interest in pursuing a film career, and my only goal, which sounds preposterous at this age, was that I have to marry Salman.

I made a lot of mistakes. Imagine at 16, I lived in a hotel alone because my father had to go back and look after his business. I was exposed to things that as a teenager, no child should be exposed to. But I learnt a lot from those experiences. I also feel that I ruined some relationships because I was misguided by someone else. Other than that, I formed some amazing relationships. Chunky was hilarious, Saif was so funny, and Suniel and I were in acting classes together. See, there are positives and negatives to everything, you take away the good things and leave behind all that is bad.

In December of 1999, I decided to return to the US. The reason primarily was that the relationship had become very unhealthy. Keep in mind that I had dropped out of ninth grade, and had no education. I was yearning to go back and finish my education. I think that was the best decision I took, because had I not left thousands of people would not have benefitted from my organisation. Once I returned to Miami, I got a bachelor’s degree in psychology. I have a certificate as a victim advocate, so I am trained to work with people who have faced abuse. I also have a master’s degree in broadcast journalism.

I grew up in a home (in Pakistan), where I witnessed domestic violence. I have no qualms about admitting that a house help sexually abused me from the age of five to nine. Then, when I moved to the US at 11, I was a victim of rape, and later, domestic violence, too. For me, it was like taking all the bad that I had endured and building something good out of it, in the form of this organisation. See, you can be sorry for yourself, or make sure that whatever happened to you doesn’t happen to others.

Most of my time is dedicated to my organisation. I often do media interactions because I am a human trafficking expert and domestic violence expert. Also, I work with various police departments to rescue people. I have had experiences like death threats, a gun held to my head, but my thought is that if I am meant to go doing this work, then that’s my destiny.

Since the pandemic began we have rescued, housed, given jobs to and provided education to over 192 men, women and children. We also work with human trafficking victims and children who have faced physical and sexual abuse.

No, I haven’t spoken to Salman in many years, and I think that’s the best way to go about things. When people come into our life, we learn from them — what we should do and what we shouldn’t. And there’s a time when you should move on. However, I respect him for his foundation, and I have heard that they do phenomenal work. I did meet his mom, Salma aunty, when she was in Miami two years ago. It was wonderful to catch up with her.

Why would I do that? I highly advise others not to watch them either (laughs!). On second thoughts, you could watch them if you are drinking wine, because then, they may seem funny.

Bachpan mein nahi kar saki toh ab kya hoga? I have no interest in acting, but I will be facing the camera for a US-based network that will be filming a docu-series about the rescues that we carry out.

I miss the pani puri and pav bhaji there. I miss having five people helping me at home. Now, when I look back, I wonder why did I need those many people? I miss certain people, too. There were some who were very good to me and some who were awful, but I wish them all well. In my 40s, as a mature woman, I have taught myself to forgive the people that hurt me. I would love to come to India, and I promise you that when I come down this time, I will actually go see the Taj Mahal.

I am happily married to my organisation (laughs!). When you look for love, it doesn’t come your way. I don’t want to have children now, but I did when I was in India. Back then, I wanted to get married and have five children, but now in my 40s, I don’t. If love comes my way and if it’s someone who has a similar mindset, I would definitely take that initiative, but I haven’t found anyone like that yet.

We woke you up on Monday morning to an exclusive, stunning picture of Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez, clicked against the backdrop of the heritage CSMT at a busy traffic triangle. The sundar, susheel, risky duo had stopped over at the Bombay Times office for a quick chat that evening. Here's what transpired when team BT threw a volley of questions at the actors, out to promote their forthcoming film, A Gentleman - Sundar, Susheel, Risky. Excerpts...

Your film A Gentleman - Sundar, Susheel, Risky revolves around the dual personalities - Gaurav and Rishi - played by Sidharth. Jacqueline, if you had to lead dual lives, which other person's life would you like to lead and why?
JACQUELINE: I would like to be Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. I love being royalty and want to marry into a royal family. Everything seems just picture perfect for her. Life will be awesome.

Between Gaurav and Rishi, which character are you closer to in real life?
SIDHARTH: Gaurav is the very typical gharelu boy who longs for a big house, marriage and family. He sells off his sports car to buy a mobile food truck so that he can look after his family in future. He's waiting for a girl to come into his life. I have no such plans and I don't even know a boy like him. I would say I'm closer to Rishi. I enjoy action and shooting guns.

Jacqueline, tell us about your experience of learning pole dance for the song, Chandralekha?
J: Actually, the idea came to us last year when we were shooting in Miami. Every single club we'd go to...
Sidharth (cuts in): You went clubbing in Miami? I was doing all the action. I had work. She was partying on her off days. Life's not fair.
J: We visited some very cool clubs from where I got my inspiration for pole dancing. Raj (Nidimoru) and (Krishna) DK, our directors, had planned to shoot a post-party song. And then we thought, 'Why not do some pole dancing?' So, I found a trainer, but for all my enthusiasm, I found it difficult right from my first lesson. I trained for two months, but as luck would have it, when we were shooting the song around 2 am, I pulled a muscle. I had to pop two painkillers and it made me really dizzy and disoriented. I was anyway battered and bruised from those two months of training. Having said that, the pain was worth it; I feel that it's really cool to do something different.

Sidharth, how is it to work with someone who is always happy and high on energy like Jacqueline?
J: Irritating!
S: I actually know when she's coming to the set because I can see it on social media. She introduced me to social media 24x7. I remember, we were in a car and I was scratching my nose or something and the next thing I know is that it's live on social media. You can't even scratch your nose when she's around. Mauka nahi milta. That was a bigger challenge while shooting with her. I had to be on guard all the time when she was around.
J: Yeah. He was really shocked. He was wondering, 'How did people get these photographs?'
S: She's always cheerful. In fact, we've referred her to some doctors, who have recommended tests. Once we know the real cause, we'll tell you.
J: It's a big mystery (laughs).

While shooting for A Gentleman..., was there ever a time when you didn't get your scenes right?
J: Yes, and it happened on the second day of the shoot. I had just finished shooting for films like A Flying Jatt and Dishoom, and was required to portray a character subtler than those. Raj and DK would keep saying, 'Jacky, go easy on her (the character). Stay calm, tone down.' On the other hand, I was used to a different way of acting. So, when they gave me a lengthy scene to enact on day two, their instruction was playing on my mind and it clashed with my style. As a result, I required some 25 retakes to get it right. I felt bad for Sid, who was part of the scene. I thought, 'Maybe I'm a bad actor' (laughs). But I've read that in Hollywood, actors take a lot of takes to perfect what they're doing.
S: Absolutely. I mean people do 50 takes, but you only see one. What stays is what people see. The rest doesn't even matter.
J: Yeah. I've read Marilyn Monroe gave some 47 takes for one line in one of her movies. Marlon Brando had given about 50 takes. They'd do it, take a break and go back into it.

What's more fun to do though - action, comedy or romance?
S: Action! Also because, I think it's great to watch an action film on the big screen. I grew up on Hindi and English action films and heroes. I was excited to perform a character that's high on action which is stylish and fun. When it's light, everyone can watch it. It gets heavier in films like Brothers and Ek Villain where the action is story-based and intense. This is more entertaining. It's tiring, though. It needs to look believable and that has its repercussions, largely because I was doing the stunts myself.

What's the riskiest stunt you've done in this film?
S: It has to be the bike chase we shot in Thailand. The streets there are as congested as Mumbai's. I had to zip through traffic without a helmet, which is not recommended. And I had to move at high pace to make it look real. While performing that stunt, I slipped - luckily not on the road, but on the sidewalk, and twisted my ankle.

Sidharth, in real life too, you're known to be very fond of your bike. Would you let Jacqueline ride it?
S: No way!

Is it because you think women have poor driving skills?
S: No, but mine is a 300-kilo bike. A true gentleman will take his lady out for a ride on that beast. Why would you let her go out on her own?

Do you go by the saying, 'Men are more possessive of their bike than their women'?
J: When I'd asked him what he is more possessive of - his woman or his bike, his reply was, 'My bike.'

Like Akshay (Kumar), why don't you use your bike more often?
S: He rides pillion on his security guy's bike. If I do that, Jacqueline will make a video and put it out on social media (laughs). She went live during our bike ride the other evening, too. I saw the video and kept wondering what she was shooting.
J: Yeah, he called me and said, 'It was just your face and smile. You didn't utter even a word.' Just for the record, that video trended. It's funny, but my entire team makes funny videos all the time.
S: Her team and she are the most social media savvy people I have ever met. I think her kids will be called Twitter, Snap and Insta. Jacky, can we take away social media from you for a week?
J: It's a part of our job. And our video went viral. People loved it.

She did similar things while shooting in Miami?
S: The entire making of our film is out on social media. I keep telling people there's still a lot more to see about the movie.

 

I've always been extremely outdoorsy and loved playing rugby and football growing up, apart from other sports. In the last few years, I've also indulged in a lot of adventure activities while travelling overseas, including skydiving, deep-water diving and skywalking. I would love to promote them in India extensively too.

Recently, the most exciting activity I undertook was urban rappelling, which is pretty much unheard of in India. An abseil, commonly called a rappel, is a tool which enables a rope to run through it for a controlled descent from a vertical height. Rappelling from mountains and waterfalls is a common adventure sport, and it has now found its way to cities too - translating to urban rappelling where you replace nature with skyscrapers or monuments.

For one of the most extensive stunts in my upcoming action thriller, A Gentleman, I had to jump from the terrace of a 60-storey building in Miami and since, I'm not too scared of heights, I was pretty excited. For safety reasons, I had to take a half-day special training to understand the buckle and harness. This helped me perform other stunts in the film better too. I've done 95 per cent of the stunts myself and a double was only used when security was an issue. Real shots always sell best with the audience.

Training for urban rappelling was not only about the jump but also about body posture, balancing body weight and learning the safest and smoothest landing process. Climbers use this technique when a cliff is too steep and dangerous. Likewise, for a free fall from a tall building. It was a great learning experience.

For the final shot, the camera followed me to the top of the building, where I had to buckle myself into a harness, then jump, slide down to a window, break it open with a few kicks and finally, enter the building. We were shooting at a live location on a sunny morning and there were cameras everywhere. Director-duo, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, had a grand plan. Raj was to fly in a chopper from Miami beach to the top of the building as I jumped, taking the best top angle shots. DK was to capture the scale from the action choreographer's point of view. We had countless Hollywood films as reference too.

This was the biggest action units I've ever worked with. Hollywood's best stunt co-ordinators - G A Aguilar (22 Jump Street, Now You See Me), Hugo Bariller (The Hunger Games), Dony Belluscio (Troy), Juan Bofill (Iron Man 3), Scott Burik (The Dark Knight Rises), James Carter (xXx: Return of Xander Cage), who is also part of the Russian arms crew in A Gentleman, Josh Lakatos (Logan), Cyril Raffaelli (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk) and Giovanni Rodriguez (Bloodline). Bollywood action director Parvez Shaikh (Dhoom, Mary Kom, Ra. One) led a large Indian stunt unit with Bobby Gerrits (Housefull 2) and Sergey Nosulenko (Baahubali 2), among others.

The final scene has some wide-scale, “never-seen-before in a Bollywood movie-kinda“ shots. There's an immense sense of achievement when you've accomplished a sequence like this one!

Ranked second in the US after New York and 13th in the world as a tourist hub, Miami is every traveller's paradise. In 2012, it was classified as an 'Alpha -World City' and Forbes magazine ranked it as America's 'Cleanest City' for its year-round air quality, green spaces, clean drinking water and streets, and citywide recycling programs. It has the third tallest skyline in the US, with over 300 high-rises, while the Port of Miami is known as the 'Cruise Capital of the World'.

It is also the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power and has been nicknamed as the 'Capital of Latin America' for its expansive Cuban influence reflected in the cafes and cigar shops, which line Calle Ocho in Little Havana. On the barrier islands across the Biscayne Bay, is the glamorous neighbourhood of Miami Beach famous for its colourful art deco buildings, white sand and surfside hotels.

Actress-producer-singer Priyanka Chopra, whose upcoming Hollywood debut, Baywatch, is set in Miami, shares her experiences of filming and holidaying there:


Bikini girl on the beach
I know Miami really well because Dostana was filmed entirely there too. We were in Florida for four months in 2008. “Desi Girl“ and the gold bikini sequence...! I have family living there too, who I caught up with at the time.

For the Baywatch shoot though, it was a shorter stay. I was shuttling between cold Montreal where I was shooting Quantico, and the sunny Baywatch set in Miami. While the rest of the cast (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Zac Efron) spent four months on the beach, I didn't get to stay for longer than three-four days at a time.

I'm not an explorer, I'm a vegetator and like to grow roots. And I wish I could have spent more time in Miami and Savannah (which is about 800 kms away) along the same coastline, and equally beautiful. The sun is always shining. Tiny cottages face the spectacular bluegreen sea. I'd lounge on a recliner with a glass of wine or champagne, in a bikini and a cowboy hat, sun-bathing or reading a novel - Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman or Robert Vavra's Horses of the Sun. Bliss!

Cruising along
One weekend in February, we took a yacht out. I felt like a mermaid, walking barefoot on the sand, tucking into the delicious buffet and watching the sun go down. The sky in Miami is always on fire.

I spent the last weekend of 2016 there too, getting pampered by the Venetian pool. Maimi offers the best burgers and I'm always ready for a big bite. I also love a nice spread of English breakfast - eggs, sausages, baked beans and black coffee.


Steak-ing my claim
The beach island of Key Biscayne is serene and secluded. It's the northernmost island in Florida and offers pristine beaches, two waterfront parks and a panoramic view of Miami. Towards the north end of the Key, Crandon Park has a lovely barbecue arena where you can dig into a juicy steak.

The flowers are gorgeous at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden with miles of manicured lawns and waterfalls. I love slipping into a comfortable summer dress and walking around the city, admiring the Mediterranean-style houses with rocking chairs on the porch. Live musicians on the streets and the beat of Latino music streams out of the record shops, giving the neighbourhood an authentic Cuban vibe.

In the main city, there are a string of coffee shops on the sidewalk and art galleries. There's also the 1111 Lincoln Road, possibly the world's most glamorous parking garage, along with local luxury boutiques and gift shops.The street art is vibrant.

Hopefully, next spring, when the city is buzzing, I'll get to visit again with my mom (Madhu Chopra) and friends. Then again, I haven't taken a break longer than three days in the last 15 years, so maybe it will be work, which will take me back there.