While society has become more willing to listen to survivors, Somy believes there is an important difference between listening to someone and truly believing them. “Society has become better at listening to survivors, but I still hesitate to say it has become better at believing them. Listening is the first step. Believing is harder,” she explains.
For her, believing survivors requires people to move beyond their comfort zones and question narratives they may have accepted for years. “Believing means sitting with discomfort, questioning familiar narratives, and accepting that harm can come from people who look respectable, speak softly, or hold power. We have more language now, more platforms, more awareness. That matters. But the instinct to protect the comfortable version of the story is still very strong. So yes, progress has been made. And yes, there is still a long way to go.”
Her experiences in both the entertainment industry and advocacy have also shaped the way she understands human nature. Fame, she feels, taught her about the projections people place on public figures, while her work with survivors revealed something much more personal. “Fame taught me how quickly people project their needs onto you. Advocacy taught me who people become when no one is watching. Fame is a performance of connection. Advocacy is the real thing, messy, slow, often invisible.”
She adds, “In advocacy you see human nature without the filter: the capacity for extraordinary kindness sitting right next to the capacity for extraordinary denial. That contrast has taught me far more than any red carpet ever did.” When asked about stories that changed her understanding of courage, Somy points to the film Arth and its portrayal of complicated relationships, abandonment and rebuilding one’s life. Smita Patil’s performance as Kavita, a character inspired by the real-life story of Parveen Babi and Mahesh Bhatt’s relationship with her, left a lasting impression.
“The film Arth changed something deep in me. Smita Patil’s performance as Kavita, the glamorous, emotionally fragile actress, was drawn from the real-life story of Parveen Babi and Mahesh Bhatt’s relationship with her. Watching Smita bring that pain to the screen stayed with me.”
She also recalls Shabana Azmi’s character, a woman who is abandoned by her husband and eventually rebuilds her life with quiet dignity. “The quiet dignity with which she rebuilds her life, and the way she ultimately takes in a young girl from a broken home, felt deeply moving. That act of choosing to protect a child who had nowhere else to go carried a quiet strength that stayed with me long after the film ended.”
The real-life journeys associated with the film also made her reflect on how courage does not always have a dramatic or triumphant appearance. She points to Parveen Babi’s later struggles as well as Raj Kiran’s difficult journey, including his withdrawal from public life. “His real-life journey, the slow fading, the silence that followed, and the difficulty of even locating him now, taught me that courage is not always loud or victorious.”
Her deepest understanding of courage, however, comes from the people who seek help through No More Tears. “What sealed this understanding for me, however, were the men, women, and children who walk into No More Tears. Many of them arrive with almost nothing left, no documents, no money, sometimes no voice, and still choose to keep going.”
She describes the strength of mothers protecting their children and young people trying to survive difficult circumstances as a form of courage that rarely receives attention. “Their courage is rarely dramatic. It is the decision to stay alive one more day when everything in them wants to disappear. It is quieter than the movies make it. And far braver.”
Despite her commitment to advocacy, the storyteller in Somy has never disappeared. She reveals that she attended three film academies and holds a degree in Broadcast Journalism. Had her life taken a different direction, she believes filmmaking or television could have remained her path.
“I believe I would have continued in that direction, making films, or hosting a talk show where real stories could be told without filters. Incidentally, I am already pursuing my own talk show, TUC, and last year I made a few short films, Chamak in Hindi and Sparkle in English, which I plan to continue doing.”
She feels the desire to tell stories and help people has always been part of who she is. “The impulse to stand between someone and the darkness that tried to swallow them has always been there. The foundation simply gave that impulse a structure and a name. But the storyteller in me never really left.”
Talking about misconceptions surrounding nonprofit organisations, she believes many people have an overly romanticised understanding of advocacy work. “The biggest misconception is that this work is glamorous or constantly rewarding. People imagine continuous inspiration. The reality is often administrative exhaustion, heartbreak that does not resolve neatly, and the quiet discipline of showing up even when progress feels invisible.”
For Somy, another misconception is the idea that survivors need someone to save them. Her approach is centred on restoring their independence rather than taking control of their lives. “Survivors need safety, resources, and the dignity of being believed. Our job is not to rescue. It is to clear the path so they can reclaim their own lives.”
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