Simone Ashley’s new rom-com is almost perfect – but there’s a problem

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Up Next

Previous Page Next Page

Amazon Prime’s Picture This is a near-perfect desi rom-com helmed by Simone Ashley.

But I’m ready to see a South Asian love story in all its glory.

The new movie, also executive produced by the Bridgerton star, is based on the Australian film called Five Blind Dates.

It follows our plucky and independent protagonist Pia as she attempts to bat away her mother’s encouragements to get married while trying to launch her photography business. 

But as her sister’s wedding celebrations get underway, she is reluctantly reunited with her childhood sweetheart Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and, determined to avoid her unresolved feelings, agrees to five blind dates in a last-ditch attempt to find love. 

Along the way, she encounters arrogant businessmen, bachelors with mummy issues and yoga gurus with zero self-awareness. In short, a recipe for disaster. 

Picture This is a delightful rom-com starring and executive produced by Simone Ashley (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios)

Picture This has all the ingredients of a classic rom-com, walking in the footsteps of beloved films over the years from 10 Things I Hate About You and 50 First Dates to more modern classics like Set It Up and Anyone But You.

The key difference? Simone’s trailblazing turn as a South Asian lead (already a rarity) fully embraces the vibrancy of diaspora culture.

There’s the complex desi mother who loves her children but is haunted by the pressures of the wider family and community; the lavish wedding packed with gorgeous outfits, poignant ceremonies and time-honoured traditions; and the mysterious family jewelry that appears on the eve of marriage. 

Needless to say, there’s plenty to celebrate about a mainstream rom-com with so much thought-out representation and brought together by a wonderful cast also featuring Sindhu Vee, Luke Fetherston, Anoushka Chadha and Asim Chaudry.

It’s no surprise since Simone has been vocal about her ambition to produce projects that champion underrepresented voices. 

‘I grew up watching rom-coms and I never really found many where there were women like me, who looked like me, leading them and playing the love interest.

But there’s one aspect of the plot that left me wanting more – the need for an unapologetically South Asian romance (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios)

‘I wanted to do that. I wanted to make a movie where I was the heroine in that sense of a rom-com, the Bridget Jones. So it meant a lot to me to do it. We had the most amazing crew and cast involved, and I’m just really excited to share it with the world,’ she told Drama Quarterly last year. 

And while she smashes the brief, I found there was one aspect of the movie that left me longing for more. A South Asian power couple at the heart of the story. 

In recent years, the British South Asian community has been making huge strides with its presence within the romance genre, largely thanks to rising stars such as Simone and, just as recently, Ambika Mod in One Day. 

However, from as far back as 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham, our dashing South Asian heroines across Hollywood have almost exclusively ended up in relationships with caucasian men. 

And while that is the reality for many, it would be heartening to occasionally buck the trend and have a sweet South Asian love story that can make it mainstream. 

We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor has paved some of the way in both her Channel 4 series and her recent indie feature, Polite Society, which both feature beautiful inter-community romances.

And shows such as BBC’s Virdee are even tackling the more complex and fleshed-out side of South Asian marriages, especially when the couple comes from different religious backgrounds.

But, for the most part, this is simply not the case, and we are a far cry from any sort of nuance entering the conversation.

It’s a complaint that’s been brewing for a while within the South Asian community. Hollywood star Mindy Kaling has fallen victim to this trope prolifically, from The Mindy Project to Never Have I Ever to Sex Lives of College Girls. 

It’s a trope that has persisted for 20 years (Picture: Everett/REX/Shutterstock) And I’m keen to shake things up (Picture: Liam Daniel/Netflix)

Simone’s last character, Kate Sharma, falls in love with Anthony Bridgerton. Netflix’s Emma Morley falls in love with Dexter Mayhew. Even in Prime’s recent rom-com, How To Date Billy Walsh, with the other Sharma sister Charithra Chandran, we run into the same trouble.

And it works the flip side as well with Aziz Ansari’s Master of None, Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick, Dev Patel in Modern Love. 

It’s even found in the recent slew of LGBTQ+ movies that have hit the screen, such as Jonathan Groff’s A Nice Indian Boy, Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Layla and Ben Hardy’s Unicorns. Or, for a sapphic example, there’s Nasreen’s relationship in Ackley Bridge.

(I wish I could add even more examples, but the level of South Asians in romantic lead roles is already so few and far between.)

What’s more, this trope often comes at the expense of the South Asian counterpart.

In Picture This, at least initially, all Pia’s potential brown suitors come across as strange, backward and completely unsuited for a modern-day woman – with only Charlie meeting her standard. 

The idea of being with someone from our own community is the punchline of the joke and made actively undesirable in comparison to the main love interest.

I want see the full range of South Asian love stories in the mainstream (Picture: Amazon MGM Studios)

Or the relationship is seen as outdated, whether it is portrayed as an arranged marriage nobody wants or a traditional couple who don’t know what’s good for them.  

To reiterate, there is a valid space for these love stories and by no means is this a call for these romances to stop.

But especially with South Asian talent finally reclaiming our narrative and leading the next generation of rom-coms, I would desperately love to see more romances that fully centre the desi community from start to finish. 

And, if the popularity of Bollywood among diaspora is anything to go by, there is definitely an appetite for more of these stories platformed within Western film and TV – centring our experience in whatever form it comes.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]. 

Share your views in the comments below.