We chatted with “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” star Shazad Latif and director Shekhar Kapur about love, transformation, and last minute casting blessings.

More about “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”:
How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe’s childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.
Interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
Shazad Latif
DHK: What do you admire most about Kaz?
SL: I admire that he, I mean, he’s just way more dutiful than I am. I respect that he takes a lot of responsibility. And he’s got a hard exterior. You know, he holds he’s trying to hold his family. I respect that a lot.
Yeah, yeah, I think it’s a very interesting character. That’s what sort of drew me to the role: that a guy is trying to please his family trying to you know, his sister has been outcast. Then we’ve got a guy who’s actually got a lot of inner turmoil going on because he’s not following his heart.
I think that’s sort of the sort of the sort of core or underpinning of this character and the movie. Do we try, do we try and please people or do we try and follow our heart?
DHK: Has there been anything in your life that you thought you were never going to change your conviction on, and then something sparked a transformation?
SL: That’s THE question. That’s a big question. I’m going through a major transformation. Yeah, the last few years, there’s been a lot of transformation. So I’m doing the work now. And yeah, my whole life. My whole life changed around. So yeah, it’s yes. I can’t go into the details of that. But yes. But yes, I have. I can relate to that.
DHK: No need for specifics! Emotionally what would you say the most challenging scene was?
SL: I really love that scene at the end with Lily. That was a very special scene. But that wasn’t very challenging because it was such a nice environment and Shekhar it made it so lovely and silent.
And I think Shabana (Azmi) scene which is ended up being one of my favorite favorite scenes, the scene when she comes to the hospital, and we talked about being a good son, and I was sort of worried about him, like, this is always a big emotional scene, I’m gonna go to what we’re gonna do. And then by the end because Shabana was so great, and I just ended up just kind of listening to her and reacting to her. And it was the most challenging, but also the most rewarding in a way.
DHK: Here’s a more existential question: what does love mean to you?
SL: What does love mean? That is a big question. Love is everything. Love it. Love is, love is life. Love is sacrifice. Love is commitment. Love is the heart. Love is excitement. Love is joy. Love is pain. Love is, it’s the whole thing man. What it’s all about. Love man, that’s it
DHK: What was the first time, if ever, you felt represented on screen?
SL: I mean, as a movie geek, if I go back and analyze the views of watching a film, like a student, I’d be like, oh, yeah, it was so Omar Sharif in this. I could say that, but like, I didn’t ever feel it.
I would always look up to Black actors and Latino actors. It was, you know, Benicio del Toro and Denzel Washington. These are the actors I, as a young actor, thought were the closest thing I could say that was me but then eventually Asian actors came through. You know, I would also relate to white actors, like Jim Carrey.
Actually you know what the first time I felt represented on screen. It was “Big Trouble in Little China” and it was Wang. It was always these action movies. It was (Jean-Claude) Van Damme in “Kickboxer,” those kinds of things.
DHK: Thanks so much for your time, congrats on the film!
SL: Thank you!
Shekhar Kapur

DHK: Emotionally what was the most challenging scene?
SK: For me was when the babies were brought to the grandmother. I was crying. As I was filming, everybody was crying. And no matter how many times I’ve seen it on the editing table or in a preview or with audiences, everybody’s crying. Oh, god. Yeah, that’s the killer, that scene.
DHK: How about logistically?
SK: it was easy. I mean, that actor was, you know, we found her at the last minute because the grandmother was kind of suddenly not able to do it because of COVID. And then we asked if anybody knew anybody. Jeff (Mirza) who plays the father in the film said “I know,” and Jeff brought in somebody and we didn’t even know he brought his own mother.
I will say remember, she said, “I’ve seen all your films Shekhar G,” as they called me and Shekhar G, “and I love them. But why are you making me feel look so old? I don’t need all this makeup. I’m not that old.” I said, “Well, I’m sorry. We were aging you.”
But there was some amazing inner energy with her that I kept coming across. So that’s why that scene works so well.
DHK: Good luck charm for your next film.
SK: Yeah. My whole film, next film’s about granny.
DHK: Which character do you admire the most, and why?
SK: I admire Aisha, the mother, because she fought her way through. And my whole backstory for as I told Shabana was the fact that when she came with a husband, the husband was always the male dominant man, and he started a business and everything. And she was always sidelined. And you know, but she was a lot of the person in that little shop making the creative decisions. And when the husband retired, she rose. She rose to become the more creative person. And that’s why Cat, played by Emma Thompson, admires her so much, because you know, so this transfer, she completely got how she now was become the dominant mother, the more creative person and rules the family from a time when she must have come to London as a young woman totally in, in fear of what the hell was going on?
DHK: Shifting away from a patriarchal upbringing.
SK: Yeah.
DHK: What was the biggest change from the first iteration of the script you got to the one we see on screen?
SK: Nothing stays the same, I mean, it’s not, because a script is a script that offers you an opportunity and the script offered us a lot of opportunity. And you take that opportunity, and my job becomes to hand it over to actors and get them to perform. So every character becomes the actor. And so when my workshops where I normally do to and I definitely did in this film, as I said, look, let’s not confine or define the film as a rom com, let’s make it real. And let’s all find the characters within ourselves. If you can find the characters within ourselves, it’ll work on a level that we can’t even predict. So all the emotionality came from the actors, suddenly saying, Yeah, we can be ourselves, we will do this as if we are the character, not as if we are playing the character of playing the rom com. So then the film just comes onto a different level. And from what everybody says rom com and everybody said, well, actually, it’s a family drama. No, actually, it’s an emotional film. Actually. It’s a cross cultural film that defies culture and acts of whichever way you look at it. A film always develops much more as it were, again, it’s not even one person’s job. It’s everybody collectively that does that job. I just take credit for it (laughs).
DHK: A slightly more existential question for you, what does love mean to you?
SK: Oh, yes, it’s very existential, but it’s something that I think about a lot. And if you go to my Instagram, I talk about it a lot. It’s the idea that love is a mystery. It’s a yearning. It’s a longing. And the day the mystery dies, loves dies, and the day the longing dies, the yearning dies, love dies. So I understand when people say oh, now I found my partner. It’s all settled. No, it’s not settled. Now the journey really begins. Because how do you keep the mystery going? Because love can only exist in freedom. How do you keep freedom because a lot of people are afraid to say, you know, I love you, you love me. We’re together now. Now you own me, I own you. What? Ownership? Where did ownership and love ever come together? It’s the biggest killer. So in my view, you have to just give you even more freedom. Because if you say oh I know my partner so there’s no more mystery because your partner is actually reflecting. What you’re saying is Oh, I know myself so much. There’s no more mystery about myself. Could you ever say that? No, you never say that. So for me Love is a constant yearning is the very essence of something that drives our existence. All kinds of love.
DHK: Thank you so much, congrats on the film!
SK: Thank you
“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” is in theaters now.