The Big Pitch :: Let's get one thing straight for now - the concept for "Til Jihad Do Us Part" was inspired by the film "So I Married an Axe Murderer", which is turn was a pisstake on Hitchcock's "Suspicion".  But I was IN NO WA... View page for full story

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Til Jihad do us Part

Meena is a successful young woman whose love life is a series of constant disappointments and lying boyfriends. She’s ready to give up on men altogether when she meets Indian chef Sarwar. Immediately smitten she surprises herself by agreeing to an arranged marriage. But she has no idea that Sarwar is a top Indian spy on the run from the 42nd most dangerous terrorist group in the world – and that they've just found him.

So Team America Messed With Bridget Jones Diary and Married The Zohan

Posted 16/11/2008 at 02:21 by Shai | View all posts

Let's get one thing straight for now - the concept for "Til Jihad Do Us Part" was inspired by the film "So I Married an Axe Murderer", which is turn was a pisstake on Hitchcock's "Suspicion".  But I was IN NO WAY aware of the existence of "Don't Mess With The Zohan".  Originality is hard to come by these days with everyone thinking up the same ideas.  If GCSEs hadn't held me back in 96 and I'd written up my script for my Asian riff on Pride and Prejudice, God knows what my version of Bride & Prejudice could have been.

The story and characters have been inspired by a range of influences which can be found at Influences behind TJDUP.  Meena is basically a British-Asian version of Bridget Jones in her search for Mr Right after a parade of loser boyfriends.  Sarwar is basically a Bollywood James Bond with a hidden secret.  The villains are straight out of Team America, whilst the main plot is a mish-mash of So I Married An Axe Murderer and Don't Mess With The Zohan but from a British-Muslim viewpoint and a slight Bollywood influence.  Mix them all together, leave to simmer, and you may just end up with the romcom to end all British romcoms.  Maybe.

Nonetheless, on a darker note, the real inspiration for TJDUP came from the multitude of newspaper and media articles increasing in number since 9/11 on Islamic terrorists, Muslim maniacs and Mohammaden moaners (their words, not mine).  The very word "Muslim" brought chills down the public's back.  The world had reached such a disturbing level of Islamaphobia that even Muslims were afraid to be around other Muslims, in case that their reputations were tarnished in hanging around with the scarved or bearded ones.  The funniest Islamaphobic articles ever can be found at the website Jihadwatch, whilst the responses to the following "Is comedy scared of offending Islam" show on BBC Radio 4 give a good example of the ignorance that is still rife in society today.

Even in today's media, with a few exceptions, British Muslims are rarely shown as complex characters, more often portrayed as either extreme fundamentalists, righteous religious pacifists or rebellious westernised rejects.  I wanted to create a comedy script that depicted Muslims with the same faults and flaws as any other human being, much like the people that I know.  Nonetheless, though there is a very subtle political statement of sometimes going overboard with suspicion, the main basic theme of the story is a relationship between two people, marriage at that, which cannot function without the simple ingredient of trust.

Anyhow, away from seriousness blahblah, this film in its entirety is a romcom.  In the words of producer Elisabeth Pinto:

You'll laugh.  You'll cry.  You'll fancy a curry.

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Posted 17/11/2008 at 12:30 by Ahmed Syed

cool!!!

Blackout Til Jihad do us Part Different Shades of Graham The Brightness

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