PHOTO: Lisa Ray was discovered as a model when she was 16. She has been in almost 30 films. (Photo courtesy Insight Vacations)
Lisa Ray, Toronto-born Indian-Polish Bollywood film star, model and author, appeared at a press event for Insight Vacations in New York on Thursday.
On top of her many other projects, Ray is now a Global Brand Ambassador for Insight Vacations, especially involved with Insight's India and Italy programs.
Ray spent her teen years in Mumbai. At age 16 she was approached by a fashion magazine to do a photo shoot and ended up on the cover. She became a sensation, and the attention led to her becoming the anchor of the TV show "Star Biz."
After working as a model she returned to Canada to study journalism, but cut her college career short to return to India to care for her ailing mother.
Ray made her film debut in 2001 in the Bollywood film "Kasoor," in which her voice was dubbed because she didn't speak Hindi. In 2005 she appeared in the Canadian Oscar-nominated film "Water." She has now appeared in 28 films.
She is also a cancer survivor. In 2009, Ray was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer thought to be incurable. She started a blog about being a cancer victim called "The Yellow Diaries."
TravelPulse interviewed Ray in New York.
TravelPulse: Where are you now based?
Lisa Ray: I'm subscribed to the three-flag theory. I have one foot in Toronto, because that's where I was born. Right now I'm based in Bombay because I'm doing lot of work there, and also in Hong Kong. That's where my husband's based. That's my home. But we have a home in Bombay too.
That's coming full circle because I lived in Bombay in the '90s.
TP: Where did you actually grow up?
LR: I lived in Toronto till I was 16, then moved to Bombay. Bombay is where I grew up, 16 till 30 is when you grow up. Those are your formative years. That's when you establish your relationship with the world and try to decide what kind of person you want to be, bumping up against other people.
TP: You're also an author now, aren't you?
LR: Yes, but my book isn't published yet. I'm putting the final touches on a book. I am writing a national column in India for a publication called DNA.
TP: What are you writing your column on?
LR: On anything. On Friday it comes out, in a couple of days.
TP: And you are modeling?
LR: Yes, I still do some modeling. I just did a campaign for L'Oreal in India. I'm doing some stuff in Canada as well. I have a problem defining myself. I resist that question, "What do you do?" Well, I live.
Obviously in all of that travel is a big component. It's a big part of my life. It's both a way of life and an extension naturally of my life, of my desires. That's another reason why I am enjoying living in Asia. I've lived all over the world, but Hong Kong I hadn't actually experienced. It gives me a chance to dig deeper into Asia.
TP: And on top of all of these projects you have taken on this role as an ambassador for Insight Vacations.
LR: Yes, I've been a Global Ambassadorship with Insight for almost a year. It's a very natural kind of meeting of sensibilities. We've been producing content for them. And one of my main agendas is to speak about India.
That's the real frontier for some people. It's both considered a dream destination, on a lot of people's bucket lists, but many people view it with a lot of hesitation. They feel like some way or another it's almost like going to the moon - I need special training, a special suit or something to take on India.
And frankly, India is a completely unique part of the world. And I won't ever even sugarcoat it. I am madly in love with the country, but it's challenging. It's definitely an assault on our senses, a culture shock if you haven't had that experience before.
It's also incredibly rewarding. Not just myself but a lot of people I speak to say that it's transformational. It's a place that can actually change your life. That's not something you can say about a lot of places. You can definitely say "I'll have a great time" in Europe. "I'll do some great shopping in Paris or Hong Kong." But to actually transform yourself on a fundamental level is not that easy.
TP: With so much on your plate already, this ambassadorship with Insight must mean a great deal to you to take it on on top of your many other commitments. What would you say is your mission?
LR: My mission is very much aligned with my personal values, to promote both the image of India and to encourage more people to come and experience the country firsthand, because as much as I can stand up here and talk to people, and use visuals, which are very powerful, India has to be experienced firsthand.
I feel so passionately about the country. Also there's a very modern side to India as well. It's progressing so quickly and that is juxtaposed with the traditional side. It has so much to offer everyone. And then again I'm circling back and saying that the only way to experience it is by going there.
That's one of my greatest missions, and also being associated with Insight.
And my agenda has expanded because we've also gone to Italy now, which is another part of the world I feel very passionately about and filmed there. I also lived in Italy.
For me, ironically, India and Italy have a lot of similarities. I call it the three Fs: food family and feuding. There are a lot of remarkable similarities in the culture if you take away the superficial top layer. And the passion in both of those countries, that's something too that unites them.
TP: If you do very much investigation into spiritual studies you will eventually find your way to India.
LR: It's true, the origins of so many great traditions, not just Hinduism, but Buddhism started there. Spiritualism is obviously a very big draw for Westerners, although the irony is that in modern urban India you won't necessarily find a lot of that. You have to go to other parts of India to get a deeper connect with the origins of a lot of the religious traditions
TP: Do you have any concerns with the course of the rapid economic development now and the possible long-term dangers for India?
LR: I think the heart of India is so firmly rooted in its traditions and culture that it will accommodate it. India has actually been open to a lot of foreign influences over the years, absorbed so many invaders, colonialists, but also traders and different types of immigrants. For instance it has a very strong old lineage of Catholicism, and even the Jews down in Kochi on the Silk Route. So I don't have any fear of that.
I've heard it said that India has this extraordinary ability to take any foreign influence, swallow it hole and it comes out with six hands and five heads. They'll Indianize things. Having said that, it is an interesting time in India right now. India is complex, not easily understood. And it's not easily distilled or reduced down to a simple kind of a line. And another thing I like to say about India is whatever you can say about India, the exact opposite is also true.
It's something that challenges our general perceptions of the way life is. It will challenge how you perceive life and rational modes of thought, etc. etc., which I think is fantastic. I'm glad there are parts of the world that have not been homogenized to look like everywhere else. And that you can also say about Italy because Italy has resisted the onslaught of Starbucks. Starbucks has come to India, however.
TP: What is the overall greater good you see from North Americans traveling to India?
LR: Obviously we travel to experience something completely different, even to experience a different version of ourselves. And India is the true litmus test of that, in terms of expanding your perceptions of the world and how people live in the world. There's no better place than India for that. And also in terms of how it will enrich your own life and teach you about yourself, India is also a unique experience. And India today is an economic powerhouse.
I would love to get more people to go there and experience also what is India today, because a lot of people have the misconception that India is a third world county from many years ago. Even via the Indian diaspora, the Indians who live abroad, because they are not as connected with the country even they don't know what India is today.
We have five different fashion weeks in India. The fashion industry is exploding. It's a very youthful country. There's an incredible dynamic energy there. And I think it's really important for people, North Americans - because I am speaking as a North American - we tend to be isolated geographically so that tends to isolate us also psychically. So we just have to get out there and take a bite out of India.
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