Transcript
Participant #1:
Jemai McCon, the former wife of Pakistani cricket captain and politician Imran, has written a cross cultural romantic comedy. This is movies first with Alex first. Zoe, played by Lily James, is an award winning documentary filmmaker whose choices in men have been less than satisfactory. She's best mates with oncology registered strazim Shazad Latif, whose Pakistani family lives next door to her flamboyant divorced mother cat Emma Thompson. Zoe and Kazim even sneak off together to the treehouse in his backyard where he enjoys a forbidden smoke. Although clearly there's a closeness between them, say for his first kiss when they were both kids. Romantically, they haven't connected. And then one day he announces to her that he'll enter an arranged marriage in more modern parliament's, termed an assisted marriage. While taken aback, Kazim cites to Zoe the divorce rate in Britain 55% compared with that from arranged unions 6%. Zoe is unsuccessfully pitching her latest documentary idea to disinterested producers when she puts to them the concept of love contractually, suddenly they're on board. Now the only obstacle that remains is convincing Kazim to be allowed to record his every move on his journey to wedded bliss. So it is that Zoe films Kazim and members of his family, including his parents, brother, sister and grandmother. Zoe is there when Kazim and his folks meet with a cultural consultant, mo the matchmaker Azim Chowdhry. She records his first internet visual hookup with young Lahore based law student Maimuna Sajjal Ali. Very quickly, that initial meeting results in engagement and then a trip to Pakistan for the three day wedding. But try as Kazim and my mountain do for the sake of family, all is not right. What's love got to do with it? Is well written and performed. It's in the same wheelhouse as My big fat Greek wedding. That was in 2002 and Mamma Mia 2008. I also referenced the big Sikh 2017, the crosscultural love affair between a Pakistani and an American. What's love got to do with it? Is warm, respectful and often very funny. Lily James is charming as Zoe and Shazad Latif, the epitome of dignified as Kazim. I also appreciated the roles of Shabana Azmi as Kazim's mum aisha and Jeff Mirza as father Zaheerd. Clearly proud of their son, aisha and Zahid remain keen to maintain tradition. And now we come to the scene stealers in a movie that's already extremely colorful. The wedding scenes in Pakistan are a cavalcade of color and finery. Emma Thompson splashes out. She immerses herself into a larger than life persona with wanton abandon. She's loud and hardly tactful as Zoe's mum, who wants her daughter to find Mr. Wright. She's given many choice lines and doesn't waste any of them. Neither does the poker faced Pakista Baig who's cast as Zahid's. Tell it like it is. Grandmother nanny Jan, the family matriarch, is a hoot whenever she's captured on film. In the director's chair is Shaka Kapoor, who was responsible for Elizabeth and Elizabeth the Golden Age, who ensures the film has a playful quality while not assuring pathos. An easy watch. What's Love Got To Do With It is feel good entertainment. That should attract an appreciative audience. It scores at seven and a half out of ten. You've been listening to movies first with Alex. First available at Apple podcasts. Google podcasts. Spotify iHeartRadio or your favorite Podcast player. You can also stream on Demand@bites.com. This has been another quality podcast production from smith.com.
