Heaping praise on Sajal Ali, Jemima Goldsmith, who wrote the screenplay to the film 'What's Love Got to do With It', said she is eagerly looking forward to the Pakistan actor's role in the movie slated for a UK release on January 27.
“I love her, @Iamsajalali. Can’t wait for people to see her in our film,” tweeted Goldsmith. She also shared a short interview clip of the 'Alif' actor at the Red Sea International Film Festival, currently taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, until December 10.
The writer also posted pictures of herself with members of the cast.
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Goldsmith's film, 'What's Love Got to do With It', opened the festival, and also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year. Starring Lily James and Shabana Azmi, it tells the story of a documentary filmmaker played by James and dating app addict whose eyes are soon opened to the potential of an arranged marriage when her childhood friend Kaz, played by Shazad Latif, heads to Lahore to marry a stranger chosen by his parents, played by Ali.
Writer-director Goldsmith said she wanted to challenge the “preconceptions that a lot of people in the west have about arranged marriages” when she tackled her first script for the movie, Deadline reported her as saying earlier.
Speaking at Deadline's Red Sea Studios along with actors Shabana Azmi and Ali, Goldsmith added that her preconceptions about the concept of arranged marriages shifted after she spent time in Pakistan.
“I saw a lot of very successful arranged marriages.”
“I had wanted to make a film that showed Pakistan in a more colorful and hospitable and positive light than perhaps we usually see in our screens in the west,” she continued. Goldsmith lived in the country for a decade after marrying Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned politician.
“It was very much a lament of friends of mine in Lahore when I lived there that the only films that win awards in the west are the ones that denigrate their country,” she added.
“I am not dismissive of it at all because I’ve seen it working,” Azmi was quoted as saying by Deadline on the topic. “And of course, it did surprise me a lot. I do think that there is some virtue in parents understanding that having similar backgrounds, particularly very strong cultural backgrounds, is a strong base to put something together. In the film, we say, ‘you walk into marriage, you fall into love.'”
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The three actors spoke about “color-blind” casting and their belief that opportunities for women in the film world are finally starting to expand. “In the drama side, girls and females are leading the drama side in Pakistan,” Ali was quoted as saying.