Jemima Khan’s latest offering, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, hit the cinemas in the UK this past week. The film, starring Lily James, Shahzad Latif and Sajal Aly in pivotal roles, was penned by Jemima. The rom-com, according to Jemima, was inspired by her time in Pakistan when she married the cricket legend-turned-politician, Imran Khan.
But a recent assessment of her film was labelled as distasteful by many. A recent article on What’s Love Got To Do With It? irked many on social media. The Juggernaut‘s take on Jemima’s film was in poor taste, as per actor Ushna Shah. “Goldsmith did and continues to capitalise and lay claim to a culture she never knew,” the article shared. “But, having been all but chased away, perhaps she, too, deserves a reassessment.”
Ushna commented on the said post on Instagram and wrote, “Wow, this is in awfully poor taste. Art is inspired by life, and every artist, even the white lady married to the PM we either hate or love too much, has the right to document her journey. Jemima was far from “chased out”, she was the nation’s darling.”
The Habs star went on to share, “We suffer from a colonial hangover and a young, beautiful, very white, aristocrat married to superman was handed the country’s acceptance on a platter. If anything Jemima was the only one who didn’t exploit her position. She didn’t bank off of it, she didn’t need to. She was never derogatory or condescending towards this country and never used it as a prop (which is the status quo among white-saviours).”
Ushna went on to add that Jemima “didn’t claim to be a white saviour, although she used her privilege for the benefit of Pakistan in many ways over the years.”
The Parizaad actor further assessed, “She had to deal with the most grotesque form of anti-semitism, she still has to deal with nonsense spewing outside her home thanks to her ex-husband’s career. Yet now we must come at her for creating art based on HER experiences? A right every filmmaker has? Also, is the film actually “unkind”? Or is it simply honest? Would you have preferred a sugar-coated version?”
Jemima then responded to Ushna’s comment and wrote, “To be clear- the writer has not even watched the film. We declined the request to send a link as we have not sent links to anyone and it’s not showing in Canada or the US for several months.”
After Ushna, several other users came to Jemima’s defence. One user penned, “‘Lay claim to a culture she never knew’. She was married into the ‘culture’ she apparently never knew, lived in the same ‘culture’ for nearly ten years, and has kids who have the same cultural background. This article is in very poor taste, to say the least. I smell some personal beef or jealousy.” Another added, “I’m so tired of white women and their strange and skewed perception of the east.”
One more remarked, “Well this is very mean-spirited, particularly in how it tags her to ensure she sees it.” A user shared. “What a terrible way to belittle the lived experiences of a woman who was married for 10 years (as the writer says themselves) into the culture they apparently ‘never knew’, lol, okay.”
What’s Love Got To Do With It? – In Jemima’s own words
“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,” Jemima told Hustle. But added that “all the characters that I have met and pretty much every line is taken from real life.”
Speaking to Variety about the importance of the film, she said, “This is a film that has very powerful female leads – which is Shekhar Kapur specialty – and it’s about multiculturalism, tolerance, and love. I think it’s very important to take that message around the world and be willing to be open with people.”
“That was as hard as nails,” she said with a laugh to Newcastle Weekly. “I found it the most rewarding but definitely the most challenging thing that I’ve done professionally so far. I’ll be honest, it took me a really long time. I virtually started this film in the Jurassic era.”
She added, “However, if you asked me if I ever thought I’d be in Australia, promoting the release of the movie, then the answer would be ‘never in my wildest dreams did I believe I’d be at this point’. In the end, I was fortunate because Ol [Parker], who’s a screenwriter and director himself, agreed to read each draft I did and gave me notes on it. So, he’d say, ‘Do better with this line’, ‘cut this’ or ‘take the brakes off’. I was extremely lucky to have such a mentor.”
Adding how the film was inspired by her time in Pakistan during her marriage with the PTI chairmen, she continued, “It is totally inspired by my time over there, between the ages of 20 and 30. I grew up in Pakistan – and I lived with my ex-husband’s entire extended family – mother, father, sisters, their husbands and children – all in the one house.”
She went on to comment, “During that period, I developed a deep affection for Pakistan: a vibrant and fascinating, yet often negatively depicted country. Living there opened my eyes to a profoundly different perspective on finding lasting love. But, this [film] is not biopic – it’s definitely not my story.”
Jemima further asserted, “However, everything in it is taken from real life elements, characters, anecdotes and, even, some of the lines I can trace them back to the instance I heard them. I even have a crazy mother, who is a little bit like Emma’s portrayal of Cath.”
Apart from James, Aly and Latif, What’s Love Got To Do With It? also stars Emma Thompson, Shabana Azmi, Asim Chaudhry, Jeff Mirza, Mim Shaikh and more.
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