Press Best
of 2009: Asian American Films (1/21/10) While Jaffar Mahmood's debut feature was shot a good year
or two before the lead actors Zachary Levi and Sarah Shahi scored their prime-time
television shows (Chuck and Life, respectively), their charismatic performances
in Shades of Ray must have foreshadowed their future mainstream popularity.
Levi plays Ray Rehman, a half-white/half-Pakistani twentysomething who has
just proposed to his girlfriend, with uncertain results. She'll think about
it. While she's thinking about it, Ray has to deal with an awkward new roommate:
his father makes a surprise visit after his mother kicks him out of the house.
Brian George (who many might remember as Babu Bhatt in Seinfeld) steals the
show as the father, who keeps comically insisting that Ray needs to avoid white
girls and find a nice Pakistani girl. Don't do what I did, he seems to be saying,
look what a mess my love life has become. The supporting cast is impressive
by indie film standards, with Bonnie Sommerville as the girlfriend, Fran Kranz
as the best friend, and Kathy Baker as Ray's mother. Zachary Levi proves to
be a solid leading man, equally effective as straight man, comic relief, and
sensitive romantic lead just trying to understand his divided, mixed-race heart. • • • • • • • • News 12 JersEtainment TV Clips (6/22/09)
• • • • • • • • USA Today Pop Candy Early Buzz (4/6/09) "Shades of Ray" gets a quick mention. • • • • • • • • DFW Reporting Article (3/30/09) The Lone Star Film Society is premiering its 2009 Best of Fest film screening series. International film sensation Shades of Ray was chosen to launch this series with director Jafaar Mahmood and actor Brian George making a special appearance at the event in Fort Worth, Texas. • • • • • • • • indieWIRE Article (3/30/09) In Jaffar Mahmood's"Shades of Ray," 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. The film, which received the Audience Award at the 2008 South Asian International Film Festival, has been released exclusively on Amazon VOD (available here). indieWIRE offers our own exclusive clip of the film below, along with an interview with director Mahmood. • • • • • • • • Cinematical Article (3/20/09) I know you're looking to watch one of those under-the-radar gems this weekend while the rest of your friends devour Nicolas Cage and uncomfortable bromances, and so that's why we're here -- to show you your many options. One film that hasn't received much press -- but is cute and quirky and totally something you might want to snuggle up next to -- is Shades of Ray, which stars Zachary Levi (Chuck on, well, Chuck) as a half-Caucasian, half-Pakistani whose life turns upside down when his Pakistani father comes to visit. Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard, Freaks and Geeks) executive produced, while Jaffar Mahmood wrote and directed. • • • • • • • • Hollywood Reporter Article (3/18/09) • • • • • • • • Segment of Jaffar Mahmood on Geo News' "Khabron Se Aage" ("Beyond the News"). • • • • • • • • Daily News Egypt Article (12/09/08) Jaffar Mahmood learnt in graduate school that a good starting point to accomplish your first feature film is to write what you know. In "Shades of Ray," it is evident that Mahmood did just that. Mahmood — who wrote, directed and produced "Shades" — and the film's lead character Ray Rehman (played by Zachary Levi) seem to lead parallel lives. Like Mahmood, Ray was born to a Pakistani father and Caucasian mother and grew up in a biracial, multi-religious household in the United States. The film — which was one of this year's entries to the Cairo International Film Festival's International Digital Feature Film Competition — opens with a young Ray receiving a word of advice/warning from his father, played by Brian George, against marrying a white woman, essentially implying that he had made a mistake by not choosing his "own kind." Click here for the entire article. • • • • • • • • Tufts University E-News (11/20/08) Medford/Somerville, Mass. [11.20.08] When Jaffar Mahmood (A'00) came to Tufts in 1996, he was preparing for a life of white coats and stethoscopes. But somewhere between freshman year biology and his junior year abroad, that all changed. Today, Mahmood is traveling the world screening his new film "Shades of Ray," an offbeat comedy that he wrote, directed and produced. He made a stop at Tufts on Nov. 20, paying homage to where it all began. Click here for the entire article. • • • • • • • • SAIFF 2008 Press Release (11/25/08) "The fact that SAIFF takes place in the heart of Manhattan is a wonderful draw for audiences and fans. The ties SAIFF has with the South Asian community in the NY/NJ area is second to none. They know how to get the word out and build interest about the films and the festival in an effective and impressive manor," said Jaffar Mahmood, director of the hugely entertaining romantic comedy SHADES OF RAY which won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at SAIFF 2008 and who also saw yet another packed house of 400 guests on Saturday night! Mahmood says his film appeals to people across a wide spectrum, not just South Asians. "I'd like to think that my film, SHADES OF RAY, won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Film at SAIFF because it's a comedy that anyone can relate to -- but the fact that the protagonist is half Pakistani and it played to a mostly South Asian crowd certainly didn't hurt my chances." The film boasted a stellar line-up of actors including Zachary Levi, Bonnie Somerville, Brian George and Kathy Baker, and tells the story of American-born Ray Rehman with a neurotic, golf-obsessed Pakistani father and a Caucasian mother. It's a comedic, heartfelt tale about the idiosyncrasies that make family and relationships so unique, no matter how or where they originate. Click here for the entire article. • • • • • • • • Tufts Daily Article (11/23/08) Jaffar Mahmood (LA '90), who was featured in last week's Weekender Interview, knew he wanted to make movies a long time before he even began writing the script for what would become "Shades of Ray," which screened last night in Braker 001. The film was written, directed, and produced by Mahmood, and for this Daily reporter, redefined what could be qualified as "Indie" film. The movie is based around the love life of Ray Rehman, a 20-something Tufts Grad living in LA attempting to make it as an actor, and the influence his ethnicity exerts on his romantic choice. Ray's father is Pakistani and his mother a white Catholic, leading him to question his choice to marry a white woman when another Ethnic female "mutt," as he calls it, comes into the picture. Click here for the rest of the article. • • • • • • • • Daily News Egypt Article (11/17/08) "SHADES OF RAY" EXPLORES
ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND RELATIONSHIPS Ray Rehman is an average 20-something American guy trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood. He attends audition after audition, shares a house with a friend from high school and is in search of true love. There's a catch, however. Ray is half-Pakistani, and so his typical American life is periodically interrupted by reminders that he's not quite white, nor is he totally brown.
Click here for the rest of the article. • • • • • • • • IMDB User Comments for Shades of Ray (11/03/08) • • • • • • • • Zachary-Levi.Net Speaks to Jaffar Mahmood (10/15/08) The Search for Identity Shades of Ray— living a regular life in the
unique and uncertain world of mixed cultures and religions After speaking with writer/director Jaffar (rhymes with offer) Mahmood about his upcoming film Shades of Ray, this was how my brain summarized a couple of the movie's pivotal scenes. Ray Rehman, portrayed by TV's Chuck, Zachary Levi, is a half-Pakistani, half-Caucasian guy just trying to live his life. He has a beautiful Caucasian girlfriend Noel (Bonnie Somerville) to whom he is about to propose marriage. Dad (Brian George), the Pakistani parent, is vehemently opposed to this union. He was kicked out of the house by Mom (Kathy Baker), the white parent, and now — of course — all white women are evil. Click here for the rest of the article. • • • • • • • • PakUSonline Article (10/07/08) Jaffar Mahmood Jaffar Mahmood is a young and talented Writer/Director whose film 'Shades of Ray' is about to hit the film festival circuit this season. Jaffar was one of the panelists at the recent OPEN event for Pakistani American film directors in New York. The film is about a half Pakistani, half American man named Rehan who goes by Ray. Ray's heritage is the same as Jaffar's: Jaffar was born to a Pakistani father and a Caucasian catholic mom and so he grew up in a multi-cultural/multi-religious household. Jaffar was born and raised in New Jersey and went to Tufts University for his undergraduate. Even though his major was economics, and he was on track to be an investment banker, he decided to switch paths and pursue his real passion, films. He is currently based in Los Angeles, where he also did his Masters at the Peter Stark Producing Program at The University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. He is teaching directing to college students part time while working on his film projects. We spoke to Jaffar about his journey into filmmaking, the difficulties he encountered, and what he has learned. Click here for the rest of the article. • • • • • • • • USA Today Pop Candy article (9/23/08) Fans of NBC's Chuck may be interested in an indie feature that's starting to build buzz. Shades of Ray stars Zachary Levi as an American-born man whose Pakistani father moves in with him. The L Word and Life star Sarah Shahi appears, along with Kathy Baker. For a trailer and more info, head to the flick's MySpace page and official site. "There's been several films that analyze the relationship between two people of different ethnicities -- Jungle Fever, for one," writer/director Jaffar Mahmood says in this interview with Quick Stop Entertainment. "But there's so few American movies, if any ... (that examine) what's it's like for the product or offspring of two ethnicities coming together -- the kid -- and how that effects him and the way he sees himself." Right now no release date has been set, but Ray is screening at festivals across the country. • • • • • • • • Shades of Ray poster released (9/5/08)
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