Mumbai, 17 August 2025 (UTN). Somy, who runs a US-based NGO called No More Tears, is no stranger to the big bad world of tinsel town and says that she can relate to his story. “I lived through open-air gaslighting, whispers of ‘crazy’, sneers that I was ‘overreacting’. Back then, every scar visible or hidden was my shame to bear alone. Today, something in Faisal Khan’s interview resonated like a pulse beneath my own. His courage reminds me that the wounds we carry in silence can echo across lives if we stay silent too long. To those who’ve felt dismissed, belittled, patrolled, or erased know this:
you are not alone. We’re rewriting the narrative. It starts with truth, continues with healing, and ends with no more tears,” she says.. Somy, who was an active Bollywood actress, says that she, too, has faced many challenges. “I’ve lived and survived Bollywood’s Gaslighting! I know first hand what it means to be silenced by whispers, labeled “crazy” by those meant to protect you, and made to question your own memory. When I watched Faisal Khan’s interview (where he courageously named family betrayals and long-buried pain), something inside me stirred. His words weren’t just revelations, they were a mirror to my own survival,” she says.
She adds, “The actor who all know and whose name I don’t want to take turned all my friends, directors, producers, and family members against me by calling me a liar, crazy, on drugs, an alcoholic, having had many plastic surgeries and I am dying of cancer. That rumour affected my mom and my well-wishers as they believed I am suffering from cancer and hiding it. So let’s apply logic here: I have cancer, which requires Chemotherapy, but I am simultaneously getting plastic surgery. Bravo and kudos to the pseudo-journalists, Simi Chandoke and Ujjawal Trivedi. As one with degrees in psychology and broadcast journalism, plus a moral compass, I must ask Simi that my memory of you has always been one who was extremely kind to me and it was reciprocal. Now given the way you look with or without plastic surgery, I can have a blast comparing the sewage system having more of an appeal than your looks now and even back then.
Coming to the interview, she says, “Faisal said what millions of the unseen and unheard feel: pain doesn’t vanish, it gets buried, and burdened on those who listen in silence. His courage ignited something in me, a spark stronger than fear. Gaslighting is a slow burn. It starts with a comment, a deflection: “You’re imagining this.” “That never happened.” Over time, those lies coil around your mind until you’re fighting for your own truth. I speak from experience. I was young when I stepped into that world of glamour and whispers. My instincts told me something was wrong, things didn’t feel right, but I was told it was my fault for being “too sensitive.” Enough people dismissed me until I almost believed them. Until you survive it, you don’t know how strong you can be.
That’s why Faisal’s honesty struck a chord. When he said what he remembered, felt, and endured. It reminded me that truth is a lifeline,” she says. Taking from her own experiences, she adds, “I’m no stranger to being branded dramatic or volatile labels meant to destabilize survivors. In my case, the trauma wasn’t hypothetical, it was deeply real. I endured abuse. I lost pieces of myself in the hands meant to hold me. She continues, “But I turned that wreckage into resistance. I founded No More Tears USA in 2007 to fight the very machinery that counts on our fear and silence. We work every day to support survivors of abuse and human trafficking. Pain once meant to isolate me became a bridge, a reason to speak, act, and save others who still believe silence is safer.”
According to Faisal Khan, he was allegedly given medication, including Serenace (haloperidol), against his will by his family in 2007-2008, says Somy, adding, “He claimed his family believed he had schizophrenia and kept him confined at home for nearly a year, forcing him to take psychiatric medication without his consent. He has consistently denied having any mental illness, stating the claims were speculative and spread by his brother Aamir Khan and other family members.” She further explains, “Serenace (haloperidol) is an antipsychotic medication used to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, mania, severe anxiety, and Tourette’s Syndrome. It works by correcting chemical imbalances in the brain that may cause these conditions.
The misuse of Serenace (haloperidol) in Russia is well documented as it has been misused as a punitive psychiatric “treatment” targeting political activists and dissidents, reflecting historical patterns of utilizing psychiatry as a tool of state control.”
Talking about how this impacted his life, she says, “Faisal Khan claimed that the medication caused severe side effects, including weight gain. He felt the treatment was unnecessary and harmful, impacting his ability to work in the film industry. The situation led to a legal dispute when he was asked to relinquish his signing authority. After a mental health evaluation, Faisal was deemed mentally fit by the court and capable of handling his own matters. He has continued to dispute the claims about his mental health in subsequent interviews.” She adds, “I see the same pattern echo in Bollywood stories: abuse dismissed, survivors doubted, voices muted until trauma becomes a shock reveal.
Mumbai-Reporter,( Hitesh Jain ).
