By Jemima, with so much love!

The craziest story Irsquove heard about Jemima Khan neacutee Goldsmith a British aristocrat is not that at 21 she married former cricketer political aspirant Imran Khan in his 40s thenmdashmoving to Lahore to live there for a decade under crazy public scrutinyItrsquos that she was on a British Airways flight to Kenya in 2001 travelling with family A lunatic took over the cockpit planning to crash that flight Only the night before that planersquos pilot had watched a Nat Geo documentary detailing the best form of animal combat Itrsquos to attack the eyesWhich is what he remembered to do with the mentally deranged manmdashgouging out his eyes swiftly dislodging him from the pilotrsquos seat He then whimpered to passengers on the plane that a ldquomadmanrdquo had taken over but itrsquos all okay now Shortly after he took on the more formal tone of a pilot announcing their landing in Nairobi soonJemima already suffered from a fear of flying She swore against it altogether after You see this aerophobia expressed through the male lead charming Shazad Latif panicking during turbulence on a plane in the unusually multiculti English romcom Whatrsquos Love Got to Do with It opens in Indian theatres March 17Only this lead character is a ldquoBritishbornrdquo meaning nonwhite of Pakistani origin He travels to Lahore to marry a girl of his familyrsquos choice Jemima 49 has written the filmrsquos screenplay based on her time in Pakistan Except those experiences involved a conspiracy to defame her in public for allegedly smuggling out local antiquesmdashshe was debarred from entering the country until the charges were droppedThe target of her attack was of course her husband Imran who later became Pakistanrsquos Prime Minister She was unable to handle his political opponentspressures They divorced subsequently She left for Britain with her two kidsImagine absorbing such bitter lifeexperiences in your 20smdashincluding living in a 20member deeply conservative joint family And to mine all of it to write a warm gentle thoroughly romantic comedy insteadDistance of time surely helps This also proves shersquos an artistemdashnot just regurgitatingjournaling personal anecdotes whether in anger or sheer reminiscenceIn line with its intention Whatrsquos Lovehellip shot during the pandemic has been rolled out by Working Title Filmsmdasheasily the worldrsquos best assemblyline of western romcoms They made us revisit the theatrical genre most recently with the superfine Ticket to Paradise 2022The genre evidently peaked in the early 2000s with Working Title productions Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994 Notting Hill 1999 Bridget Jonesrsquos Diary 2001 About A Boy 2002 Love Actually 2003Also Read What ChatGPT told me about meAll of which starred who as Hollywoodrsquos undisputed King of Romance Hugh Grant who was with Jemima after Imranrsquos divorce Theyrsquore apparently still friendsBetween the two amazing men in Jemimarsquos life her filmrsquos setting ie PakistanmdashLahore seems a lot more wholesomejoyous than its dark stereotypemdashand the genre ie romcommdashalthough more in the familydrama spacemdashis sorted Credibility is indelible Helps the creative process to date right I guess kidding of courseIf anything through the gorgeous Lily Jamesrsquos female lead Whatrsquos Lovehellip comes across as a tender critique of a serialTinder dating cultureIt almost actively bats for ldquoassisted marriagerdquomdasheuphemism for lsquoarranged marriagersquo which could have coercive connotationsmdashby throwing around stats to the effect that Britain has 55 per cent divorcerate only 6 per cent marriages arranged by families break upRespecting a personrsquos choice to marry who they like is obviously not under question here Debating reasons for low divorce rates among subcontinental arranged marriages as against lsquolove marriagesrsquo is not the point eitherWhat is Fun conversations on a ldquosimmering likerdquo for someone over ldquoboiling hot loverdquo an easygoing interplay Emma Thompson on screen Nitin Sawhney Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for musichellip Jemimarsquos top talent as screenwriter is evidently dialogue some sharp lines here and thereThe filmrsquos female protagonist is a documentary filmmaker Her desi BFF nextdoor wants to explore suitable girls picked by his folks Her camera follows himmdashfor the film within the film ldquothat could be Meet The Parents First or Love ContractuallyhelliprdquoItrsquos only while looking up more on Jemima after watching Whatrsquos Lovehellip that I realised shersquos been a prolific journalist The New Statesman Vanity Fair Vogue and indeed an accomplished documentary producerfilmmaker herself Clinton Affair Case Against Adnan SyedIn what could be a meta moment in this movie the documentary director manages a decent film on love relationships and Pakistan but the producers back out because the ldquolens is whiterdquo Jemimarsquos script has been directed by the Lahoreborn child of Indiarsquos partition Shekhar KapurFor whatever reasons I canrsquot recall the last time I saw a film directed by Shekhar Mr India Bandit Queenmdashwas it a short segment in New York I Love You 2008 or Four Feathers 2002 think skipped Elizabeth The Golden Age 2007Whatrsquos Lovehellip 2023 also means arguably Indiarsquos most talented director has simply put together a perfectly watchable lightweight romcommdashshedding the curseburden of a masterpieceShekhar has also directed the stupendous Shabana Azmi in the film which might be the first time since his debut Masoom 1983 40 years ago Thatrsquos enough nostalgia for IndiansMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper