Romcom about arranged marriage? Lily James, Shazad Latif ask ‘why not’ in What’s Love Got To Do With It?

SINGAPORE – In the romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It?, doctor Kaz (British actor Shazad Latif), who is in his 30s, lets his family matchmake him with a woman from Pakistan.

His neighbour Zoe (English actress Lily James) is surprised and dismayed that Kaz, whom she has known since childhood, would allow his British Pakistani family to pressure him into a relationship with a stranger. Still, she ends up filming his hopeful journey from London to Lahore for a documentary. 

At an online press event, James, 33, says that her character is typical of many in the West who view arranged marriages – or assisted marriages, as some call it – as an outdated practice that robs the couple of a fundamental right.

“From her point of view as a young woman living in the West, she thinks it takes away choice,” says the star of the film Cinderella (2015) and miniseries Pam & Tommy (2022).

“But she comes to realise how successful it can be, how there can be an advantage to pragmatism over passion, to putting compatibility over chemistry.”

The film opens in Singapore cinemas on Thursday.

Freedom to choose carries a penalty. Those in the dating market suffer from choice overload, a problem worsened by apps that feed on the fear that a good match is insufficient when perfection is attainable. Or the reverse might happen and the user might be put off by the lack of quality.

“Thankfully, I’ve never had to go on dating apps. Sometimes, I’m with my friend and I’m swiping for her, and I’m shocked – I feel there’s not much on offer,” James says, laughing.

“I look back at my granny, who got married when she was 19 and spent her life with my grand-dad. And they were so happy. Millions of couples all over the world have arranged marriages and my mind – as (with) my character’s – was opened to all the ways you can fall in love. There is no one way,” she adds.

The screenplay comes from British writer and film-maker Jemima Khan, who was once married to former Pakistani cricketer and politician Imran Khan, and who lived in Pakistan for several years. The film is directed by Indian film-maker Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, 1998 and its 2007 sequel; as well as Bandit Queen, 1994). 

Latif, 34, who is of mixed parentage – his father hails from Pakistan and his mother is English-Scottish – says that some in his family have opted for arranged marriages.

Although he would prefer to choose his own spouse, he believes that both traditional and Western styles have their merits.

“I’ve seen arranged marriages work and I’ve seen them not work. And I’ve seen Western-style marriages work and not work as well. I don’t think that any one way is the right way,” he says.

In the film, Kaz and his family travel to Pakistan to meet his prospective bride’s family. There, he experiences culture shock when he finds that people his age have more relaxed attitudes towards love than what he, a child of immigrants, is used to at home in Britain.

Latif – who has appeared in television series Spooks (2002 to 2011) and Star Trek: Discovery (2017 to present), and will portray Captain Nemo in the upcoming live-action Disney+ series Nautilus – says that the idea that immigrant families tend to hold on to traditional attitudes that their source countries have left behind “makes sense” to him.

“Diaspora families are obviously ‘behind enemy lines’, in a sense. So, you try to hold on to your culture much more, with food or whatever. I have definitely witnessed it. And assisted marriage is an example of trying to hold on.”

What’s Love Got To Do With It? opens in cinemas on Thursday.