He may come across as the slightly geeky brother in his famous roles in East is East (1999) and more recently Eastenders, Raji James' upcoming role is anything but like that.

The 37-year old actor plays a lead role (his first) in an upcoming film described as a "psychological love story" by its producers.

There is no indication when the film, titled The Unforgettable, will be released in the UK but AIM magazine was alerted to its existence when the lead actress, former Zee TV presenter Sofia Hayat, emailed us happily highlighting the fact it featured "their first love scene ever".

Naturally, with our interest piqued with this tidbit, we asked Raji James what was going on.

"The Love scenes were thankfully shot quite early on in the schedule, so everyone was still excited and enthusiastic about the whole thing, I'm not so sure the results would of been the same if they'd have been shot later in the schedule when tiredness and frayed tempers started to kick in!"

He added: "For me the scenes were a huge challenge as I'd never been involved in scenes so overtly sexual. Add to that, I was newly single after splitting with my long time partner, Sofia was a very attractive young lady and the locations were some of the most beautiful I've ever been on and I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it was for me to concentrate fully on all the technical aspects of shooting those scenes!"

The Unforgettable was shot over 2 months in Mauritius late last year and stars Sofia Hayat (playing Padma) and Raji James (as Yash, a writer) as two characters who fall deeply in love. He is in Mauritius to write a book about sex and she ends up proving all his theories wrong. There is, we're told, "a devastating twist" at the end.

Its Indian filmmakers say it is a British movie aimed at the audience here rather than in India. Written by Arsala Qureishi and directed & produced by Arsala Qureishi and Sabrina Louis, it hopes to do the circuit at film festivals later this year.

Raji says making the film was a huge undertaking given it is his first lead and there are only two scenes without him.

"Very early on it was decided that we would work right through without days off so as to hopefully get finished earlier. This effectively meant I was working 30 days straight, up to 16 hours a day and being in every scene!"

So how was it to work with first-time actress Sofia Hayat, we ask, a bit cheekily.

"Working with Sofia was never dull I can tell you that. When we first started working on the film I was a little confused about Sofia, mainly because she had the attitude and air of someone very experienced and 'known' and yet I'd never heard of her or seen anything she'd been in."

He adds: "As time went on I realised that while not very experienced as an actress, Sofia was certainly experienced in the whole "celebrity" / media world. I think overall I had a lot of fun with Sofia, there were times I wanted to throttle her and times when I just wanted to put my arms around her and give her a huge cuddle!"

The actor went to straight to Melbourne after finishing the film to start work on a 13-part comedy drama series called Kick. The show is currently airing in Australia and the team are waiting to find out if the second series will be commissioned. If it does he will be back there later this year.

In the meantime he says he is trying to edit together digital video diaries from last year covering his work away on Robin Hood (Hungary), The Unforgettable (Bombay, Mauritius) and Kick (Melbourne). He is also involved in a free comedy podcast featured on iTunes (Ray Peacock podcast).

More recently he launched a club night with fellow ex-Eastender Ameet Chana called VIP Ramp. That geeky persona is definitely fading away.

Film trailer

youtube.com/vandalmovies

theunforgettablethefilm.com