Shabana Azmi reunites with Shekhar Kapur for Hollywood film What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Actress Shabana Azmi has reunited with helmer Shekhar Kapur, who directed her in the film Masoom (1983), for his next project, What’s Love Got To Do With It?

The film, a Hollywood rom-com is being shot in London, England.

The veteran actress, who was last seen in the Netflix film Kaali Khuhi (2020), joins an ensemble cast that comprises Emma Thompson, Lily James, Shazad Latif, Rob Brydon and Asim Chaudhry as well as Pakistani actress Sajal Ali.

The romantic comedy, written by Jemima Khan, is being produced by Working Title and Studiocanal. Khan, who is also co-producer on the project, has previously produced the television documentaries The Clinton Affair and The Case Against Adnan Syed, as well as the third season of American Crime Story.

“It’s a story of identities,” Kapur told Hollywood trade outlet Variety.com. “It’s about cultural clashes and it’s a comedy, but it’s about hiding behind an identity, and how identities can become tribal, and how tribalism can lead to clashes and fundamentalism. It’s a rom-com, but based on this fundamental idea of people adopting identities out of fear of marginalization.”

Kapur, who was named the new president of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in September, has been working on a number of projects in the past few years, including Elisabeth, a German film on the life of the Austrian royal and wife of emperor Franz Joseph I. The filmmaker last acted alongside Kamal Haasan in Vishwaroopam 2 (2018).