WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
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Director: Shekhar Kapur
Screenplay: Jemima Khan
Principal cast:
Lily James
Shazad Latif
Emma Thompson
Shabana Azmi
Sajal Ali
Oliver Chris
Country: UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 108 mins.
Australian release date: 26 January 2023.
British production company Working Title Films brought rom-coms Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually to cinemas with resounding success and their latest offering, the delightful What’s Love Got to Do with It? (not to be confused with the Tina Turner bio-pic of the same name), looks like it could be headed for similar triumph. Directed by Shekhar Kapur from a screenplay by Jemima Khan, it will undoubtedly appeal to audiences happy to go on a journey that canvasses the idea of taking the slow road to love rather than expecting to find ‘love at first sight;’ in other words, a marriage arranged by one’s parents or a matchmaker. As one of the characters says in the film, “It’s better to fall into like and walk into love.” Khan, who was married to the Pakistani Test cricketer and now politician Imran Khan, also wanted to show a brighter, more joyous side to Pakistanis, presenting them as, “normal people, not scary creatures,” as they are so often depicted in the movies.
Heading up the cast is Lily James, who plays Zoe, a successful documentary filmmaker and unsuccessful dating app addict. She coerces her childhood friend and neighbour, Kazim (Shazad Latif), a Pakistani-British doctor, to allow her to make a documentary (Love Contractually, geddit!) detailing his arranged marriage (or “assisted marriage,” as Kaz says it’s called now) to a woman he hasn’t met yet. After an hilarious scene with a matchmaker (played by Asim Chaudhry), Kaz accepts his parents’ wishes and sets off to Lahore to meet and marry his chosen young bride, Maymouna (Sajal Ali), with Zoe filming his every move. Zoe’s divorced mum Cath (Emma Thompson), who lives next door to Kazim’s family and is friends with his mother, Aisha (Shabana Azmi), and father, Zahid (Jeff Mirza), also accompanies them to Pakistan for the wedding. And, what a celebration it is! Much like a Bollywood movie, the marriage is an extravaganza of music and dance and it turns out that the bride is not as timid and retiring as she appeared in the introductory Zoom link – the girl sure likes to party. Indeed, there’s quite a lot more to Maymouna than first met Kaz’s eye. In fact, there’s more to Aisha and Zahid’s family as well…
Apparently, James and Latif are real-life buddies and their on-screen chemistry is totally believable. You have no trouble accepting that this is a couple who grew up together and who are very comfortable in one another’s company. When they want to get away from their parents, they meet for a chat in their backyard treehouse, something they’ve obviously done for years. Thompson steals her scenes (she has some of Khan’s script’s best lines) and her over-the-top ethnic wardrobe adds to her character’s eccentric charm. Azmi and Mirza are also terrific, and the others in the household, Mim Shaikh playing second son Farooq, Iman Boujelouah as daughter-in-law Yasmin, and an hilarious Pakiza Baig as grandmother Nani Jan, add flesh, bones and colour to an already colourful story. You get the feeling it would have been a fun production to be part of. Multi-award-winning composer Nitin Sawhney’s score is outstanding, too.
Screenwriter Khan explains that, “Aged 20, I left my life in London for a marriage that took me to Lahore and Islamabad, where I lived for a decade and had my two sons. During that time, I developed a deep affection for Pakistan: a vibrant and fascinating, yet often negatively depicted country. Living there opened my eyes to a profoundly different perspective on finding lasting love. And so, What’s Love Got to Do with It? began as an exploration of the contrast between Eastern and Western approaches to romance… I joked with my single friends in London that we all might benefit from an unashamedly practical social system that insists on clear intentions stated upfront, a pre-agreed marriage contract to manage expectations, and an opportunity to meet available, like-minded, non-commitment phobic men, chosen by the people who know us best.” And her film makes us realise that arranged marriages don’t only exist in South Asian cultures - English culture has them, too. For evidence, all one need do is look at the history of the monarchy!
Screenplay: Jemima Khan
Principal cast:
Lily James
Shazad Latif
Emma Thompson
Shabana Azmi
Sajal Ali
Oliver Chris
Country: UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 108 mins.
Australian release date: 26 January 2023.
British production company Working Title Films brought rom-coms Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually to cinemas with resounding success and their latest offering, the delightful What’s Love Got to Do with It? (not to be confused with the Tina Turner bio-pic of the same name), looks like it could be headed for similar triumph. Directed by Shekhar Kapur from a screenplay by Jemima Khan, it will undoubtedly appeal to audiences happy to go on a journey that canvasses the idea of taking the slow road to love rather than expecting to find ‘love at first sight;’ in other words, a marriage arranged by one’s parents or a matchmaker. As one of the characters says in the film, “It’s better to fall into like and walk into love.” Khan, who was married to the Pakistani Test cricketer and now politician Imran Khan, also wanted to show a brighter, more joyous side to Pakistanis, presenting them as, “normal people, not scary creatures,” as they are so often depicted in the movies.
Heading up the cast is Lily James, who plays Zoe, a successful documentary filmmaker and unsuccessful dating app addict. She coerces her childhood friend and neighbour, Kazim (Shazad Latif), a Pakistani-British doctor, to allow her to make a documentary (Love Contractually, geddit!) detailing his arranged marriage (or “assisted marriage,” as Kaz says it’s called now) to a woman he hasn’t met yet. After an hilarious scene with a matchmaker (played by Asim Chaudhry), Kaz accepts his parents’ wishes and sets off to Lahore to meet and marry his chosen young bride, Maymouna (Sajal Ali), with Zoe filming his every move. Zoe’s divorced mum Cath (Emma Thompson), who lives next door to Kazim’s family and is friends with his mother, Aisha (Shabana Azmi), and father, Zahid (Jeff Mirza), also accompanies them to Pakistan for the wedding. And, what a celebration it is! Much like a Bollywood movie, the marriage is an extravaganza of music and dance and it turns out that the bride is not as timid and retiring as she appeared in the introductory Zoom link – the girl sure likes to party. Indeed, there’s quite a lot more to Maymouna than first met Kaz’s eye. In fact, there’s more to Aisha and Zahid’s family as well…
Apparently, James and Latif are real-life buddies and their on-screen chemistry is totally believable. You have no trouble accepting that this is a couple who grew up together and who are very comfortable in one another’s company. When they want to get away from their parents, they meet for a chat in their backyard treehouse, something they’ve obviously done for years. Thompson steals her scenes (she has some of Khan’s script’s best lines) and her over-the-top ethnic wardrobe adds to her character’s eccentric charm. Azmi and Mirza are also terrific, and the others in the household, Mim Shaikh playing second son Farooq, Iman Boujelouah as daughter-in-law Yasmin, and an hilarious Pakiza Baig as grandmother Nani Jan, add flesh, bones and colour to an already colourful story. You get the feeling it would have been a fun production to be part of. Multi-award-winning composer Nitin Sawhney’s score is outstanding, too.
Screenwriter Khan explains that, “Aged 20, I left my life in London for a marriage that took me to Lahore and Islamabad, where I lived for a decade and had my two sons. During that time, I developed a deep affection for Pakistan: a vibrant and fascinating, yet often negatively depicted country. Living there opened my eyes to a profoundly different perspective on finding lasting love. And so, What’s Love Got to Do with It? began as an exploration of the contrast between Eastern and Western approaches to romance… I joked with my single friends in London that we all might benefit from an unashamedly practical social system that insists on clear intentions stated upfront, a pre-agreed marriage contract to manage expectations, and an opportunity to meet available, like-minded, non-commitment phobic men, chosen by the people who know us best.” And her film makes us realise that arranged marriages don’t only exist in South Asian cultures - English culture has them, too. For evidence, all one need do is look at the history of the monarchy!