When the world doesn’t believe in you, your sister will.
This truth lies at the crux of Polite Society, the first feature film from We Are Lady Parts director Nida Manzoor. The spirited, punk-style movie follows Ria (Priya Kansara) and Lena (Ritu Arya) Khan, Pakistani-British sisters with unconventional dreams. Ria is an aspiring stuntwoman calling herself “The Fury”, often strong-arming her sibling to shoot her martial arts endeavours for a YouTube channel. “My sister Lena,” says Ria, “is the only person who believes in me.” Lena, meanwhile, is struggling with squashed ambitions of her own. Once an art school student, she’s now referred to as a dropout, and regularly hides in her room from the prying aunties in their vicinity.
Ria is determined; Lena is currently downtrodden. They remain each other’s support in the face of all — from their well-meaning parents (the wonderful Jeff Mirza and Shobu Kapoor) to the world at large.
Credit: Focus Features.
“The sisters’ bond and their relationship truly is the love story of this film,” Kansara tells Mashable. It’s her first leading role after appearing in Netflix’s Bridgerton and The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself.
“[Their relationship] is at the heart of it all,” she says. “I think the thing that keeps the audience so connected throughout this crazy rollercoaster, with all the stunts and all of the crazy things that are going on…it really is about how siblings go to the ends of the earth for each other.”
Arya, star of The Umbrella Academy and set to appear in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie this summer, credits the strength of Ria and Lena’s onscreen relationship to the actors’ offscreen connection.
“It was very easy to play this opposite Priya,” she says. “We felt like we just clicked from day one.”
Mindy Kaling’s South Asian representation has viewers deeply divided. This says a lot.
Kansara’s protagonist, Ria, indeed attempts to go to the ends of the earth to protect her older sister from what she perceives as the greatest threat. When a marriage proposal arrives for Lena in the form of Salim (Akshay Khanna) and under the careful watch of his wealthy mother Raheela (Nimra Bucha), Ria’s bubbling rage and developing fighting skills are put to the test. She and her scrappy, loyal group of friends plot to keep Lena by Ria’s side and out of her looming matrimony. What follows is a wild ride that becomes somewhat outlandish in the second half, which is peppered by extravagant stunts, Raheela’s villainous mannerisms, and sci-fi-like twists.
Credit: Focus Features.
All of this is to say Polite Society is a charming, one-of-a-kind, even wacky film. There’s energy at every turn, a combination of physical movement, laughs, and lighthearted suspense. Manzoor wrote the script 10 years ago but it only just came to fruition through Working Title and Parkville Pictures, then premiering at Sundance Film Festival in January and hitting cinemas worldwide in April.
South Asia and its diaspora does appear to be having a moment in pop culture of late, evidenced by the likes of Bridgerton (in which Kansara played a small role of Miss Eaton) and Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever. Polite Society does great justice to Pakistani-British, immigrant, and South Asian culture, punctuating the narrative with ’80s Bollywood music and references that don’t over-explain themselves to an international audience. Some of the most magnificent scenes are those in which Kansara and Arya’s characters demonstrate their martial arts chops — impressive stunts performed by the actors did themselves — while wearing decadent bridal ensembles.
“My wedding dress was so heavy!” laughs Arya. “There were so many jewels. So we had to really find ways to pin certain bits up where I was going to be doing a high kick. It was a whole thing. That’s why it looks cool.”
Kansara reminisces on the many stunts in the film that she was really proud of, particularly those conducted while wearing wires.
“There’s this bit where I run up a wall and I do a backflip over someone. That day, we had 10 minutes left before we had to wrap and they were like, ‘Get Priya in the harness!’ The first time I literally ran straight into the wall. But the final take of that day, I managed to get that move. It was the best feeling in the whole world.”
Beyond the spectacle of action scenes and hilariously satirical takes on culture, Polite Society‘s underlying themes are what viewers will likely walk away with. Ultimately, Ria’s angst and plotting speak to something larger; her unwavering belief in her sister’s destiny to be an artist, not just Salim’s baby-bearing wife, is one such thing. Ria’s refusal to back down is another, and her emphasis on freedom and choice, for both herself and Lena, is the greatest message of all. Lena chooses to marry — not forcibly by any means — but Ria continues to believe that her sister wants something else for her life. This quest for agency, which is later and importantly supported by their parents, is an empowering one to witness.
Kansara believes that there is a universality to the dreams of Manzoor’s characters. When asked if it’s crucial to depict young South Asians with “nontraditional” aspirations, she says, “I’ve heard from a lot of children of immigrants in particular, that [parents] feel scared about allowing their children to do jobs that are untraditional because we want our children to feel secure and safe and have a happy, safe life. I think it’s just such a universal thing, isn’t it? Stepping outside of our comfort zones and wanting to do something that feels outside of the box.”
Polite Society is a powerful example of doing just that: stepping outside established parameters to deliver a potent, coming-of-age story of two sisters. It’s a pretty unforgettable experience, one that Kansara hopes “loads of people can relate to.”
Polite Society is now in cinemas.
