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Lisa Ray on walking away from fame in 2001: Time didn’t erase me, it revealed me
After stepping away, Lisa said she “chose the long road.”
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IANS - Fri, 16, Jan 2026
- 02:05 EST
- 19
Lisa Ray. / IANS/lisaray/insta
Known for films such as Kasoor, Bollywood/Hollywood and Water, actress has reflected on a defining phase of her life, when she chose to step away from mainstream cinema in India at the height of her career in 2001, saying the decision helped her rediscover depth, meaning and her true self.
Lisa took to Instagram, where she shared a reel featuring scenes from films she had worked in, set to the acoustic version of “Girls Like You.”
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“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 stepping away, Lisa said she “chose the long road.”
“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,” she added.
It was after this pause that she returned to cinema through independent films, often made on shoestring budgets but driven by faith and optimism rather than commerce.
“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.
Lisa said she embraced each role as a journey of self-exploration, away from the pressures she had earlier experienced in the Indian film industry.
“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,” she added.
Reflecting on old stills from that period, Lisa noted that while they remind her of how she once looked, appearance was never the goal. For her, the real work was about growing depth, earning meaning and shedding the weight of external projections.
“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.
Lisa began her modelling career in India in the early 1990s and made her acting debut in 1994 with Hanste Khelte. She is best known for her issue-oriented portrayals, most notably in the Oscar-nominated Canadian film Water and the award-winning South African feature The World Unseen.
In 2009, Lisa 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.
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