Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das forced society to deal with the topic of homosexuality, especially among Indian women, in Deepa Mehta's 1996 movie Fire. Now, a decade later, film-maker Manan Katohora is ready to bring the topic to the fore once again with his upcoming movie When Kiran Met Karen.

Where Mehta's Fire revolved around two sisters-in-law discovering a relationship after essentially being abandoned by their respective husbands, Katohora's new film deals with the dilemma of an Indian-American actress' coming out as a lesbian.

The twist in the tale – the young woman realizes she's a lesbian while acting in a film in which her on-screen character happens to be a homosexual.

Though Bollywood star Perizaad Zorabian had been offered the role, she turned it down 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".

Perizaad's loss has been Purva Bedi's gain, for she will now be stepping into the role of Kiran, the lead character.

As for why Bedi was comfortable taking on a role that she says no other "single actress ... living in India ... who cares about her career there who could play this part", well that's because the movie's subject is sure to attract a lot of attention in India, and will probably pave the path for more actresses to take on such roles.

"That's one of the reasons I really want to do the movie ... 'cause you know that once the movie's made, everyone in India 's going to watch it. I want to make this movie so that actresses there can start to play those parts and not be so scared of it," Bedi was quoted as saying.

That narrative centers around Bedi's character, Rachna, who plays a character named Kiran in the movie within the movie, and who learns through the course of exploring her on-screen character, that her off-screen life is not too different.

"When you meet her, she is in an über-heterosexual relationship. Through the course of exploring the character, she begins to explore that side of herself and goes to a place that's scary for her because she's never seriously considered being a lesbian — or even bisexual — herself," Bedi said.

"She's really, I think, bought into the heterosexual paradigm ... and only seen that as a possibility. Then when she starts to explore the other side, it's really threatening but exciting," revealed Bedi.

And, it's not only homosexuality that the When Kiran Met Karen deals with, for what director Katohora also explores is the "expectations" that go with being an Indian-American woman.

"The other really sort of huge thing for Rachna is, I think, expectations with being an Indian American woman. There's a lot of pressure from birth to get married and to fit these roles, fit these responsibilities of, you know, get married, be a good wife, be a good girl," said Bedi.

As for when the movie is expected to hit theaters, well Katohora intends to have the film ready for the festival circuit beginning in summer 2007.