You may have already heard of the upcoming film ‘When Kiran Met Karen’ because of its controversial subject - a Bollywood actress in New York falls in love with her female co-star while shooting a film in which she plays a  lesbian and because of who's playing the lead. Or rather, who's not playing it!

Bollywood actress Perizaad Zorabian made international headlines in July when she turned down the role due to her own personal inhibitions about playing a lesbian, even as she acknowledged, “Kiran is a fantastic role for any actor who has the courage to think with an open mind.”

There has been much anticipation since then over who would take the lead. Now, director Manan Katohora reveals that the film's star will be Indian-American actress Purva Bedi (American Desi, Green Card Fever).

But Bedi herself, who has built her acting career in the United States, does not feel the same stigma that Zorabian did. “That's one of the reasons I really want to do the movie because you know that once the movie's made, everyone in India 's going to watch it,” says Bedi. “I want to make this movie so that actresses there can start to play those parts and not be so scared of it.”