Jemima Khan: What’s Love Got To Do With It? is largely inspired from my life, but it’s not autobiographical’

British screenwriter and producer Jemima Khan says What’s Love Got To Do With It? is largely inspired from her life, but it is definitely not autobiographical. She mentions in a candid conversation with Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy that every single character and anecdote comes from either someone she has met in real life or an experience from her own life.

Jemima Khan who has lived in Pakistan has heard a lot of people there saying that the films in the west show Pakistan in a bad light. So, there was something within her that told me that she must make a joyous colorful film on Pakistan and that’s how What’s Love Got To Do With It? was born.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

How much of outdoor scene was recorded in Lahore?

No no it’s all Lahore (laugh). We could not go to India or Pakistan because of COVID. So, we could only shoot a few of them through a friend who got the Lahore footage from there.

How much are you inspired by Pakistan?

Well, since I lived in Pakistan for ten years between the age of twenty and thirty I understand a lot about their culture. And so I would say that every single character and anecdote comes from either someone I met in real life or an experience I have had in my own life. But it is not autobiographical. Zoey, the lead is in her thirties whereas I was twenty-one when I got married and I have had children who were very young. So, it’s a different situation, so I would say all the characters that I have met and pretty much every line is taken from real life.

How much of you is there?

What’s weird about this is that I found myself not just the in the female lead, but there was a little bit of me in the male characters as well. I am drawn towards the sense of duty and wanted to please my parents as well as I was looking for a career in film and the kind of excitement that Zoyee in What’s Love Got To Do With It?  looks in life are very similar to that of mine. Personally, I can relate to lots of characters in the film.

Why did it take you so long to write a film which is largely inspired by your life?

I have lived in Pakistan and I have heard a lot of people there saying that the films in the west show Pakistan in a bad light. There was something within me that told me that I need to make a joyous colorful film on Pakistan.

Shekhar Kapur doesn’t like calling What Love has got to do with a rom-com. But it is a positive uplifting colourful film that totally brings people together and it is about multiculturalism, colour and joy. I hope it will have universal themes even though it is inspired by my Pakistani experience when I lived in that country. And I hope it will be enjoyed by all the audiences.

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