The chillier months are on the horizon, and with them comes the promise of feel-good romantic movies to watch and cry over as a salve to the frightening season. What’s Love Got to Do With It?, the upcoming cross-cultural romantic comedy directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), presents just that, with its stars Lily James and Shazad Latif. On September 10th, the film will have its world debut at the Toronto Film Festival. What’s Love Got to Do With It? was made by the same people responsible for Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love, Actually. a documentary filmmaker named Zoe (James) is looking for her next project, while her neighbour and longtime friend Kazim (Latif) is in the midst of an aided marriage.
In his next romantic comedy, Kapur will ask, “What is love, really? Is there a ‘right’ way to discover it?” When Kaz tells Zoe about his engagement, she is shocked by the idea of being forced to marry someone selected by her parents. Zoe doesn’t seem to realise that her method of seeking a romantic partner isn’t working out so well for her since she uses so many different dating apps and has so many false starts. Zoe wonders whether she doesn’t have anything to gain from love when she proposes filming Kaz’s engagement as the topic of her next documentary.
The clip has all the upbeat radiance of a winter love story. Upbeat music plays as comedic clips from Zoe’s disappointing dating past are shown, and then we cut to her and her pal hanging out in an abandoned tree house, where Kaz makes his engagement announcement for the first time. When he informs her it’s an arranged, or facilitated, as “we call it these days,” Zoe’s enthusiasm wanes. She asks, “What about love?” and makes a casual comparison between aided marriage and Stockholm Syndrome. Later, she pitches this concept to her superiors at work, using phrases like “Love Contractually.”
The setup is humorous and playful, yet there is obviously serious content. The teaser progresses to show Kaz meeting his future wife for the first time online, all while Zoe films and critically observe. As the Pakistani wedding day draws near, the tension between the two best friends who are now engaged only rises. Zoe challenges Kaz’s dedication to his marriage, and he responds by saying that she isn’t exactly the most enlightened authority on the subject. Following her recurring role as Rose MacClare on the critically acclaimed British historical series Downton Abbey, James created a name for herself in Hollywood with her breakout starring performance in Disney’s live-action Cinderella in 2015.
She then became a leading lady in movies like Baby Driver and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, as well as the Hulu comedy series Pam & Tommy. Latif has been a fan favourite after appearing in several popular shows and movies, including Penny Dreadful on Showtime, Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Shabana Azmi (Halo) as Aisha Khan, Sajal Ali (Mom) as Maymouna, Asim Chaudhry (The Sandman), Taj Atwal (Memory), Jeff Mirza (Eternals), Mim Shaikh, Iman Boujelouah, Mariam Haque, and Sindhu Vee round out the cast, which also includes Latif, Thompson, and James. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, famed for his dramatic and stylish films Elizabeth and her sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which both starred Cate Blanchett, What’s Love Got to Do With It? was written and produced by Jemima Khan. What’s Love Got to Do with It? is coming to cinemas shortly, albeit not on any certain date just yet.
Synopsis
If you want to know how to discover true love in our modern society, I’ll tell you. Her eccentric mother Cath (Emma Thompson) is not happy that her daughter Zoe (Lily James), a documentary filmmaker and dating app junkie, keeps getting matched with Mr Wrong. As his parents did, Kaz (Shazad Latif), a childhood friend and neighbour of Zoe’s, has decided to enter into an arranged (or “aided”) marriage with a smart and beautiful woman from Pakistan. Zoe begins to wonder whether there is anything she can learn from this very different approach to love as she watches him travel from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents.