Back in the day, the only time you ever saw a Pakistani girl on TV, it was usually an episode of EastEnders. She was often being forced into an arranged marriage because she a) wanted to go to college, b) was torn between two cultures or c) had caught the eye of the cute Tom Holland look alike down the road (tick all that are applicable).

And in each case, the guys who their parents chose to marry them off to were never Zayn Malik look-a-likes (even though there are plenty of those around), but some random guy with a ‘tache that could make him a cover boy for the Movember movement with a ne’er do well (or as we like to call it, “only marrying you for your passport”) expression - so it was obvious to everyone except the parents that he was a wrong ‘un.

The only other Asian girls on TV were the maths geniuses on TV quiz shows, prompting your parents to look at you, shaking their heads wistfully and letting out a painful “she’s never going to be a doctor is she?” sigh. 

When it comes to representations of Pakistani culture, what we normally see on screen is more dated than an episode of Citizen Khan. However, that looks set to change, thanks to the new Jemima Goldsmith flick What’s Love Got to Do With It?, which hits the screen on 24 February.

Under the Working Title production banner, it would be easy to assume that What’s Love Got to Do With It? will just be Love Actually with added biriyani and bhangra. And while there is enough biriyani to make Nadiya Hussain’s mouth water (after all there is only so far you can stray from convention), if you scratch beneath the surface, it is more than just a romantic comedy. It is a clever and daring film with sharp but non-judgmental observations of both Eastern and Western cultures.

The film tells the story of Zoe (Lily James), a documentary maker struggling with sexism in the workplace. Her love life isn’t doing much better, thanks to her habit of swiping right one a series of Mr Wrongs and falling for a string of unsuitable boys. When her hot nextdoor neighbour and childhood friend Kaz (played by Spooks star Shazad Latif) suddenly announces he is travelling to Pakistan to have an arranged marriage or, as he calls it, an “assisted marriage”, she decides to make him the subject of a documentary.

During the trip, Lily ends up seeing her own life through a lens and ends up on her own journey of self-discovery; meanwhile, Kaz realises that just because someone ticks all the right boxes on paper, they don’t always tick the boxes in your heart.

The film was written by Goldsmith, a screenwriter and producer whose CV includes the Emmy-nominated drama Impeachment about Monica Lewinsky. Goldsmith got to see the arranged marriage process up close when she lived in Pakistan for 10 years when she famously married Imran Khan, the ex-cricketer and former PM of Pakistan, at the tender age of 21.

“When I first went there I definitely had the same unnuanced view of what an arranged marriage represents, but there is a more interesting conversation to be had around different types of approaches to relationships,” she said.

“I got to see those relationships up close and a lot of those marriages were very happy and also very romantic and they really confounded my expectation.

“People here tend to conflate forced marriage with arranged marriage, and assisted marriage is a whole other kind of iteration which is really an introduction by somebody who knows you best essentially.”

It was that concept of how different cultures explore love and relationships and whether there are lessons we can learn from how other people do things that inspired the film.

“I came back from Pakistan and had this conversation with my girlfriends here who were in their 30s, wanting to have kids, wanting to settle down about what it would be like if your parents helped you find someone.

“If you had an arranged marriage, who would your parents suggest? Would it work? What if someone has made some mistakes of her own along the way and has kind of lost faith in their own judgment and is now going to delegate to their mother, so that’s the genesis of the film.”

One of the most interesting things about the film is that you get to see a side of Pakistan that you don’t normally get to see on TV, which is glamorous and fun, a world away from the bearded fundamentalists typically shown in TV shows like Homeland. Jemima describes the film as a love letter to the country she considers her second home.

In fact, there is something quite subversive about showing Pakistani women with attitude and fabulous wardrobes downing whisky and dancing with their gay best friends (and before you ask: yes, it does happen).

“We always see Pakistanis as fanatics or suicide bombers,” Goldsmith said. “I wanted to show there is another side to Pakistan, which is this colourful, engaging and love-filled place. I felt that actually, weirdly, that was the more surprising one to show on screen.”

While What’s Love Got to Do With It? would make a great date night (or assisted marriage meeting) movie, it is more than just a romcom. It’s refreshing to have a nuanced and three-dimensional portrayal of Asian society where the characters are characters first and cultural values second.

Ultimately the film explores different cultures and their interpretations of love and marriage, but the key message is, different cultures aside, we all want the same thing – and that’s to be loved.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? is released in UK cinemas on 24 February.

Images: Studiocanal