  We examine the role of space-time geometry in the non-adiabatic collapse of a
star dissipating energy in the form of radial heat flow, studying its evolution
under different initial conditions. The collapse of a star with interior
comprising of a homogeneous perfect fluid is compared with that of a star
filled with inhomogeneous imperfect fluid with anisotropic pressure. Both the
configurations are spherically symmetric, however, in the latter case, the
physical space $t= constant$ of the configurations is assumed to be
inhomogeneous endowed with spheroidal or pseudo-spheroidal geometry. It is
observed that as long as the collapse is shear-free, its evolution depends only
on the mass and size of the star at the onset of collapse.
