Lisa Ray

We, as a nation, will never forget Lisa Ray's haunting beauty in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Afreen Afreen. Post that, she never really left the public eye - doing small roles in movies, and anchoring travel shows. In 2009, after she was diagnosed with a rare cancer, she underwent stem cell treatment and beat it - inspiring many who lose faith when they get diagnosed. She has been leading the crusade ever since. It's only recently that we have seen a new side of her - the poet. Sample this, "Give it away. My heart whispers... No. They do me the kindness to not say, 'You fool'. But my shoulders are narrow built. Neither fortune nor pain can rest here." Ray shared this piece on Instagram, where she recently started posting poems under the moniker @protestpoet. She is also penning a memoir and tells us from Vietnam that she is "feverishly working towards a deadline."