Review: What's Love Got To Do With It

The trailer for What’s Love Got to Do with It instantly sparked my interest; not only because it has a predominantly South Asian cast, but also because of the subject matter - arranged marriage. The concept of arranged marriage, which goes by the term ‘assisted marriage’, is controversially explored through a white lens: the protagonist initially sees the idea of being introduced to a partner by your parents as delusional and squeamish. I was intrigued to see if this film would be a true representation of the culture I grew up in, or whether it would merely reinforce the harmful and othering stereotypes depicted in so many stories about South Asians. All in all, it was both.

The film follows childhood best friends and neighbours Kaz (Shazad Latif) and Zoe (Lily James), as they explore love and relationships. Kaz decides to take part in a traditional assisted marriage to a bride from Pakistan, following the example of his parents. Zoe decides to film his experience, and along the way they encounter and explore their cultural differences.

Zoe documenting the marriage through the lens of a white woman plays into the harmful trope of white people discovering and exploring an idea foreign to them, in order to entertain a predominantly white, British audience. Her constant doubt as to whether Kaz will actually go through with the marriage shows her belief that something alien in her own cultural background must be considered universally absurd. She constantly implies that in order to be ‘British’, one must conform to Western interpretations of marriage and love, despite Kaz himself being born in Britain. 

There are several aspects of the film which hold true, from the double standards between men and women, to the subtle and not-so-subtle instances of racism. The trope of exoticism is highlighted by Zoe’s mum, played by Emma Thompson, who perfectly epitomises the white perception of South Asians which is ingrained in British society. The characters hold a common preconception of South Asia as ‘uncivilised’, and are shocked by the beauty of Lahore, and the vibrancy of Mehndi.

The moral of the story appears to be that being a practising Muslim is merely a façade, and that in most cases, the brown boy will always end up with the white girl. Whilst this was frustrating to watch, it led me to question whether elements of truth were the source of my frustration. It seems that to be a ‘true Brit’, we must water down the aspects of our religion which are deemed ‘backwards’ or ‘too strict’, but still remain ‘exotic’ enough to keep things interesting for our white counterparts.