Art imitates life in What’s Love Got to Do with It? a 2022 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur, from a screenplay by Jemima Khan.
The precis reads: ‘Set between London and Lahore, a filmmaker documents her childhood friend and neighbour’s arranged marriage to a bride from Pakistan.’
Jemima Khan is an English screenwriter who, in 1995, married Pakistani cricket superstar Imran Khan, in Paris (this was way before he became prime minister of Pakistan). They also had a civil ceremony. A few months before her wedding, she converted to Islam citing the writings of Muhammad Asad, Charles le Gai Eaton and Alija Izetbegović as her influences. After her marriage to Khan, she relocated to his hometown, Lahore, Pakistan, where she learned to speak Urdu and also wore traditional Pakistani clothes.
What’s Love Got to Do with It? is about a white British woman who falls in love with a South Asian man. The film stars Lily James as Zoe and Shazad Latif as Kazim – the couple in question as well as Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Oliver Chris, Asim Chaudhry, Jeff Mirza, Alice Orr-Ewing, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and the not be missed Emma Thompson.
What’s Love Got to Do with It? had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September last year, and won Best Comedy (the ‘Ugo Tognazzi’ award) at the Rome Film Fest in October 2022.
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