Arranged marriages are getting a positive look in a new film by the former wife of Imran Khan, and it’s got nothing to do with Tina Turner.
Jemima Goldsmith has been in the limelight for many years, and especially while she was married to ex-prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan.
Since then, Jemima has turned her hand at screenwriting and has released a film with big Hollywood names to dispel the archaic views of an arranged marriage.
In ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ co-stars Zoe (Lilly James) and Kazim (Shazad Latif) go on a journey to Pakistan, where Kazim is set to get an arranged marriage.
Sajal Ali plays the part of the bride-to-be Mayamouna as Zoe captures the culture of marrying a stranger.
Speaking about the film at the Everyman Cinema in Manchester, Jemima said the film had been inspired partly by what she saw in Pakistan herself and partly by researching the culture of the traditional arranged marriage.
Jemima said: “I lived in Pakistan with my ex-husband and all of his family, including his sisters and their kids.
“I did get to see so many arranged marriages close-up because his sisters got married and I’d be around this culture.
“And when most of them were successful, it was a surprise to me that they could have happy marriages.
“So, I got to see this, and it became something I would talk about with people on how it worked.”
Jemima and fellow director Shekhar Kapur wanted to give the film a rom-com feel to help people look at arranged marriages in a new positive light.
Jemima said: “I didn’t want it to be negative, I wanted it to show the positives of arranged marriage too.
“It’s not what people think it is now and I think this film shows that.”
Nicknamed as an ‘assisted marriage’ the film explores the idea that marriages facilitated by parents, can actually be ideal, especially as more and more young people confess how ‘done’ they are with the dreaded talking stages of a relationship.
Many a TikToks have been shared with girls often joking about how they absolutely cannot take another ‘talking stage’ and wish to just get married.
So, it seems Jemima might be onto something.
Catch the film in cinemas from Friday 24 February
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