MUMBAI, India — Actress Lisa Ray has reflected on a pivotal decision early in her career, recalling how walking away from mainstream Indian cinema in 2001 helped her rediscover purpose, depth, and her true self.
Ray, known for films including Kasoor, Bollywood/Hollywood, and Water, shared her reflections in a post on Instagram, accompanied by a reel featuring scenes from her past work set to an acoustic version of “Girls Like You.”
“In 2001, I walked away from fame in India. Not because the work wasn’t coming — it was. I had successful films behind me, many offers ahead of me, and a very clear sense of how I was being seen: model, too pretty, not gritty enough. My voice. My personality. Flattened,” she wrote.
After leaving the spotlight, Ray said she deliberately chose a different path.
“I chose the long road,” she wrote. “I moved to London to study acting in ways that felt aligned. I lived at Balliol College, Oxford, immersing myself in Shakespeare and poetry. I wandered the V&A. I studied Buddhism and yoga (the irony is not lost on me, I was only exposed to yoga once I left Bombay) I built a life rooted in learning, spirit, and curiosity — not visibility.”
Following that period of introspection, Ray returned to cinema through independent films, many produced on modest budgets but driven by conviction rather than commercial ambition.
“It was after that pause, that deepening, that I made the indie films. Shoestring budgets, enormous faith. Films powered by optimism, not commerce. Many of them are now hard to find — and that’s fine, maybe even a blessing!” she wrote.
She described those projects as personal experiments that allowed her to explore herself as an artist, free from earlier industry pressures.
“They ranged from silly to Oscar worthy and I enjoyed every experiment with self, away from the pressures the industry in India had put on me,” Ray wrote.
Looking back at images from that period, Ray said they remind her of how she once looked, but emphasized that appearance was never her focus.
“Those images remind me how lovely I once was. But loveliness was never the point. The work was to grow depth, to earn meaning, to shed the skin of projection and come home to self. I’m grateful for the journey that taught me who I am when the gaze falls away. Time didn’t erase me It revealed me,” she concluded.
Ray began her modeling career in India in the early 1990s and made her acting debut in 1994 with Hanste Khelte. Over the years, she developed a reputation for issue-driven roles, most notably in the Oscar-nominated Canadian film Water and the award-winning South African feature The World Unseen. In 2009, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable form of blood cancer.
The 53-year-old actress was most recently seen in 99 Songs, directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy. The film starred debutants Ehan Bhat and Edilsy Vargas alongside Aditya Seal, Lisa Ray, and Manisha Koirala, and explored themes of art and self-discovery through the story of a struggling singer seeking success as a music composer. (Source: IANS)
