akistan’s loved Jemima Khan for decades now, even if, in some cases, begrudgingly. She was revered as the country’s own, accepted immediately by everyone when her life brought her here.

Ever the icon, Khan makes her point without fussing, and makes it often. Not shying away from making the first feature film she’s written about her once-adopted country is just that: a bit tricky, but very on-brand.

Speaking to Instep, Khan laughs away a question about whether she’s been subjected to ridiculous set-ups by well-meaning friends.

“Isn’t everyone’s first film a little borrowed from their life?” she asks.

“What’s Love Got To Do With It? is a celebration of the Pakistan that I lived in and knew. Everything that’s usually shown is quite bleak,” Khan says.

Pakistan, as the writer-producer points out, is more than just a pit of crime and terrorism. Whole lives are lived out here, and rather vibrantly. It is this colorful, fun side of Pakistan Khan feels gets no exposure.

Of course, as Pakistanis, we’d love some good publicity, but by virtue of being Pakistani, this particular audience might also find more holes to pick in the narrative.

A film about a British-Asian man who asks his parents to “assist” a marriage for him, bemusing his childhood friend and neighbor, who decides to make the journey into a documentary, the premise is fun and light, but there is always a chance that it might offend the sensibilities of Pakistani audiences.

“I am nervous,” says Khan, because she hopes that Pakistan enjoys the film. She is quick to pony out though that the Asian community in the UK has mostly reviewed it positively.

Directed by Shekhar Kapoor, and starring Sajal Aly, Lily James, Shabana Azmi, Emma Thompson and Shazad Latif in pivotal roles, What’s Love Got To Do With It? Released across Pakistan on March 3.