By James Murphy
From the production team behind Bridget Jones’ Diary and Love Actually comes the Rome Film
Festival Best Comedy award-winning romcom What’s Love Got To Do With It? starring Downton
Abbey’s Lily James, and penned by Jemima Khan, Imran Khan’s ex-wife and Hugh Grant’s ex-partner.
It is a film that ticks all the rom and com boxes but that is potentially creatively controversial given
its none-too-subtle ideological bent.
Aside from her close-to-a-decade marriage to Pakistani cricketing all-rounder and politician Imran
Khan, What’s Love Got To Do With It? screenwriter Jemima Khan’s resume includes a stint as an
editor of the political magazine The New Statesman and a Masters of Arts degree in Middle Eastern
Studies, focusing on Trends In Modern Islam.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? draws upon Khan’s personal and professional experiences, as it
follows documentary maker Zoe (Lily James) as she films her childhood sweetheart, Pakistani next
door-neighbour-turned oncologist Kazim (Shazad Latif) while he embarks upon the arranged
marriage process. With her unique perspective into British and Pakistani cultures, Khan places each’s
conception of love and marriage under the microscope and asks, what is preferable, Western
smorgasbord of dating app hook-ups or the Islamic marry-who-we-tell-you-to-for-the-good-of-the-
family and love will follow eventually?
The chemistry between James and Latif is strong, and there are sufficient red herrings to make
audiences question for a moment or two whether this romcom will conclude like literally every other
film in the genre or not. Emma Thompson and Shabana Azmi get plenty of laughs as the meddling
mothers, while Pakistani model Sajal Aly is a sympathetic third point to the love triangle. It is likely,
though, that the film, which is directed by Indian-director Shekar Kapur, will raise some eyebrows
within the Pakistani diaspora because of its underlying political message.
Ultimately, having explored Western and Pakistani conceptions of love, What’s Love Got To Do With
It? concludes that the Hollywood conception of love is the best.
What’s Love Got To Do With It is currently screening at Palace Nova Eastend and Palace Prospect cinemas.
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