Jemima Khan reveals inspiration behind 'What's love got to do with it?'

British screenwriter and film producer Jemima Khan has revealed the reason behind her upcoming film "What's love got to do with it?" — a rom-com starring Sajal Aly and Shabana Azmi.

While talking to Geo News about her movie, Jemima, the former wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, said she wanted to show another side of Pakistan to the world.

“I wanted to show the colourful, beautiful, joyful place that I knew when I was in Pakistan as opposed to Pakistan we often see on the Western screens," the filmmaker said.

"You know quite often in films such as Zero Dark Thirty and Homeland, you see Muslims and Pakistanis depicted as the baddies and Pakistan is seen as a really scary, dark place."

"And so I got a chance to make the romantic comedy version of Pakistan, with Working Title Film that invested in rom-coms, with a beautiful cast with Sajal Ali who is a beautiful Pakistani actress and very talented Shabana Azmi from India who is an absolute goddess and Lily James who is wonderful and Emma Thomson, Shahzad Latif, and others.”

Jemima shared that one of the best things that she learnt in Pakistan was to develop faith in "neeat" (intention) and she hopes that Pakistanis will judge her film through her "neeat" which is aimed at portraying them as "normal people and not scary creatures".

Jemima revealed that she was working with Fatima Bhutto — niece of Benazir Bhutto and daughter of late Mir Murtaza Bhutto — to start a fund or a mentoring programme to help Pakistani filmmakers.

The British filmmaker praised Pakistani showbiz and artistic talent and said: "I think Pakistan has the most incredible talent and I want to try and do some kind of mentorship scheme and I am talking to Fatima Bhutto, my friend, about putting together some kind of fund or mentorship scheme to help filmmakers in Pakistan get their work made and seen globally because there is so much talent in Pakistan."