Shades of Ray (2008)

American-born Ray Rehman comes home one night to find his Pakistani father on his doorstep. Ray's Caucasian mother threw him out. It's an awkward time for his father to move in as Ray just ... See full summary »

Director:

Jaffar Mahmood

Writer:

Jaffar Mahmood

Stars:

Zachary Levi, Fran Kranz, Sarah Shahi

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zachary Levi	...	Ray Rehman
Fran Kranz	...	Sal Garfinkle
Sarah Shahi	...	Sana Khaliq
Bonnie Somerville	...	Noel Wilson
Brian George	...	Javaid Rehman
Kathy Baker	...	Janet Rehman
Gerry Bednob	...	Naseem Khaliq
Philip Rosenthal	...	Director #1 (as Phil Rosenthal)
Jasen Wade	...	Mitch
Rex Lee	...	Dale
Cody Klop	...	Sal, age 12
Jake Kasdan	...	Director #3
Art Evans	...	Tyler
David Doty	...	Pierre
Sharmila Devar	...	Shirmeen

Storyline

American-born Ray Rehman comes home one night to find his Pakistani father on his doorstep. Ray's Caucasian mother threw him out. It's an awkward time for his father to move in as Ray just proposed to his Caucasian girlfriend - who hasn't given him an answer. While trying to get his parents back together, Ray meets a South Asian girl of mixed descent, just like him, and must decide where his identity truly lies.

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Plot Keywords:

character name in title

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Taglines:

Life's not always brown or white.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 October 2008 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was accepted at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and the Newport Beach Film Festival, but was dis-invited by the festivals due to the film releasing digitally on Amazon.com.

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Goofs

At the end of the movie, Ray is sending Sana a postcard and puts a regular stamp on it. Mailing anything to Mexico would require international postage rates, which are at least twice as much.

User Reviews

Charming family/romantic comedy with a whole lot of heart - pun intended

I was privileged to see this film at its world premier at the Austin Film Festival. Ray's family dynamics were fun and still familiar, making it easy to connect with him. Writer-director Jaffar created endearing characters. Despite some of the story weaknesses, I found this film irresistible. I was even more enchanted when a whole slew of folks got up on the stage for the Q&A after the screening, AND Jaffar introduced his parents who were in the audience. Zach, Sarah and Fran were extremely funny. Made even more so by the fact that Zach and Sarah were functioning on little sleep after wrapping their TV shooting schedules for the week and coming out to Austin almost immediately after. The support shown for this filmmaker only goes to show the passion behind this project; and, imho, those are the only projects worth spending my time on. Jaffar was articulate and very helpful with his responses to questions for us first time filmmakers.

If Zach Levi doesn't charm you as Ray, then you're either dead or in a coma. Sarah Shahi as Sana, same. Actually, the same can be said for all the leads, Fran Kranz, Bonnie Sommerville, Brian George and Kathy Baker

• all did wonderful work. With my apologies to the rest of the cast for

this next statement. Brian George stole the show as Ray's father. It was very obvious in the writing that Jaffar knew this character very well, and Brian picked up that ball and ran with it. He was highly entertaining to watch.

Zach is still a young actor, but if he's able to keep at his craft and continues selecting projects with this much heart, I see greatness in his career. He's going to be a tremendously talented actor, and he's already quite good! He made it easy for me to connect with and care about Ray. Sarah Shahi was a surprise. I see her every week on "Life", and really had no idea how talented she was - she acts so effortlessly on that show! Of course her character Sana in "SoR" is quite different from that of Dani Reese on "Life", but her personality during the Q&A is entirely different from both of them. Well done, you, Sarah! I don't know about anyone else, but I'll be watching for future projects with all these folks, including Jaffar of course! I hope you get distribution because I'll pay so I can see this again.