On Friday 24th February 2023, Mercury Classics Soundtrack & Score will release the original motion picture soundtrack for the British romantic comedy film What’s Love Got To Do With It? by Ivor Novello Award-winning and Mercury Prize nominated composer Nitin Sawhney CBE. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, from a screenplay by Jemima Khan, the film will be released in cinemas across the UK on the same date (Friday 24th February). The first single from the soundtrack ‘Mahi Sona’ (The Wedding Song), co-written with Naughty Boy, featuring Lily James, is out now and available to stream here.
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.
Nitin Sawhney’s endearing and disarmingly tender score guides the listener through the film’s emotional highs and lows, from playful plucked strings and upbeat South-Asian-influenced percussion to rousing motifs and wistful melodies.
“The music was really about finding a vocabulary,” explains Sawhney. “It’s a complex film in one way, but it’s simple in another. It has a lot of different cultural influences that needed to be balanced in the right way. I think the whole film is about coming to terms with, and reconciling, identity which is something that anyone of Asian heritage who’s grown up in the UK is very aware of… it was also a process that evolved around the emotions and psychology of the characters. The music effectively became their story, the love story. It developed with the understanding and the confidence of the narrative and characters.”
In addition to the score, Sawhney has collaborated with Grammy-winning British-Pakistani record producer, DJ, songwriter and musician, Naughty Boy and singer and actress Preeya Kalidas to create an original song for the film, ‘Mahi Sona’ (AKA The Wedding Song). The single is available as three different versions: one featuring legendary Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, superstar Indian singer Kanika Kapoor, rapper Billy Khan and Emmy-nominated actress and singer Lily James, another featuring Brit Award nominee Joy Crookes and the third without features.
“My parents are Pakistani, I was born here, I spent much of my teenage years thinking about opting for an arranged marriage” he says. “Coming from the same background as Kaz I wanted to do the track justice. The film has this fusion of Pakistani and English culture which was exciting.” (Naughty Boy)
Earlier this month Lily James wrote and recorded her vocal addition to the single at a recording session in Sawhney’s studio with Naughty Boy and Sawhney himself. Listen to the single here.
Of her part in ‘Mahi Sona’ (The Wedding Song), James says “It was an absolute pleasure working in the studio with both Nitin and Naughty Boy. Music plays a huge part in the film, and I’m thrilled to contribute to this amazing single alongside some incredible artists”
What’s Love Got To Do With It? The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released on
Friday 24th February via Mercury Classics Soundtrack & Score.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? will be released in theatres across the UK on Friday 24th February 2023
Soundtrack Tracklist:
- Mahi Sona (AKA The Wedding Song) Featuring Lily James, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Kanika Kapoor & Billy Khan (Naughty Boy)
- Convincing Kaz
- Mo The Matchmaker
- Aisha & Zahid
- Fairytale
- The Matchmaker
- Yasmin & Farooq
- Skype
- Waking Up
- Mahi Sona (AKA Wedding Song)
- The Sister
- Argument
- The Ceremony
- The Screening
- Jamilla
- A Good Son
- Divorced
- Family Coming Together
- Finding Zoe
- Treehouse
- Nachho Gaao
- Apni Suno
- Mahi Sona (AKA The Wedding Song) Joy Crookes Version (Naughty Boy)