When Ray went gay... twice

Lisa has done back-to-back lesbian roles with same co-star and director

When Ray went gay... twice

Lisa has done back-to-back lesbian roles with same co-star and director

Lisa Ray won accolades for her role in Deepa Mehta's Water (2005), an Oscar nominee. She later followed that up with two far-lesser-known (though very relevant) films that enjoyed a good run on the gay and lesbian film festival circuit.

Similar themes

The World Unseen'

I Can't Think Straight' have contrasting settings but a similar theme the dilemma of lesbian couples coming out to their traditional families.
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Both films are directed by Shamim Sarif, who adapted her two novels to make these films.

The lesbian director is married to her partner, Hanan Kattan, who is also the films' producer.

The lead pair was the same in both flicks Lisa Ray and Hollywood desi indie favourite, Sheetal Sheth (best remembered in 'Looking For Comedy In A Muslim World' and the passable 'ABCD').

Actor Parvin Dabas, who plays Omar; Lisa Ray's character, Miriam's husband in The World Unseen, talks a bit about the film.

He says, "It was set in during a time when apartheid was still legal in South Africa." He adds that he was sold on the script, story and setting.

"This film (The World Unseen)," he says, "is more about the times it is set in, rather than about its sexual theme."

We'd like to believe him but the movie stills reveal a passionate chemistry between the lead characters Miriam and Amina that belies those words.

How the dates rolled

Interestingly, 'I Can't Think Straight' was completed before The World Unseen, but the latter released first on the festival circuit.

The two 80-odd minute films are being marketed as a double billing in some markets (in the US and the UK) and could release in India much later, ifu00a0 they do at all.

The two films had a limited release in the US in November 2008,u00a0 I Can't Think Straight released in the UK on April 3.

In related news, Lisa informed us that she would be going on a 10-day silent meditation course starting today.

About A World Unseen

Set in 1950s South Africa, this sensitive film sees docile housewife Miriam (Ray) falling for the free-spirited Amina (Sheth), a cafu00c3u0083u00c2u00a9 owner.

Both are South African women of Indian origin living in a country, that not just discriminated at the time between blacks and whites, but also men and women.

About I Can't Think Straight

In this romantic comedy set in London, Tala (Ray) is engaged to be married while Leyla (Sheth) is in the closet about her sexuality. When the two meet, sparks fly as do the buttons. They're in love but will they tell their families?

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