Shabana Azmi joins the cast of Shekhar Kapur’s cross-cultural rom-com What’s Love Got To Do With It

By: Mohnish Singh

Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur’s cross-cultural rom-com What’s Love Got To Do With It has added yet another talented actor to its stellar cast.

Joining the existing cast of Lily James, Rob Brydon, Emma Thompson, Shazad Latif, Sajal Ali, and Asim Chaudhry is veteran Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi, who boasts of several notable films on her electric filmography.

What’s Love Got To Do With It is currently shooting in London. The film is based on an original script written by Jemima Khan, who is also producing it under her Instinct Productions with producer Nicky Kentish Barnes, alongside Working Title Films’ Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan. The rom-com is set between London and South Asia.

Talking about the film, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur had earlier said, “It is a story of identities. It is about cultural clashes and it is a comedy, but it is about hiding behind identity and how identities can become tribal, and how tribalism can lead to clashes and fundamentalism. It is a romcom, but based on this fundamental idea of people adopting identities out of fear of marginalization.”

What’s Love Got To Do With It marks Kapur's directorial return since his 2007 Oscar-winning offering Elizabeth: The Golden Age. He is popularly known for helming such notable Bollywood flicks as Masoom (1983), Mr. India (1987), and Bandit Queen (1994).

The film reunites him with Shabana Azmi after a huge gap of more than three decades as she played the female lead in his directorial debut Masoom in 1983.

Apart from What’s Love Got To Do With It, Azmi also has a short film called Sheer Qorma on her platter. The LGBTQ romance short film also stars Divya Dutta, Swara Baskar, and Surekha Sikri in important roles.

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