FUN-DAMENTAL RIGHTS
POLITE SOCIETY The action comedy about family, femininity and kicking the patriarchy’s arse.
Where so many action films involve saving a damsel in distress, Nida Manzoor’s raucous action comedy Polite Society has two badass sisters saving each other. Ria (Priya Kansara) is a spirited teenager, who dreams of becoming a stuntwoman, encouraged only by her beloved older sister, Lena (a ludicrously cool Ritu Arya). But Lena, disillusioned by her perceived failure as an artist, becomes betrothed to handsome, wealthy doctor Salim (Akshaye Khanna), despite his overbearing (and very possibly psychotic) mother, Raheela (Nimra Bucha).
Manzoor was inspired by her relationship with her own artist/musician sister (‘She’s my inspiration for everything’). The film also draws from the action classics Manzoor grew up watching – she tells Teasers her gateway drug was ‘The Matrix, and then I watched Hong Kong action films because I heard they influenced the Wachowskis. You can see those inspirations; this is a film that really loves films.’
Rather than saving humanity like Neo, the smaller stakes of Polite Society are ultimately about defying societal expectations and refusing to give up on yourself. The dire consequences of the alternative exist in the film’s antagonist,
Manzoor explains. ‘Raheela is the dark side of Ria; she’s part of a generation prior that couldn’t pursue their dreams.’
Manzoor refers to the film’s ‘dark femininity’, which is hilariously employed when Raheela takes our peppy young heroine to a spa, only to torture her with a dreaded hot wax. Manzoor, who like so many women is no stranger to such brutal hair-removal methods, wanted to ground the scene in a commonplace agony. ‘When I got waxed, I’d truly always think that I could endure torture.’
Polite Society is a fast-witted, Edgar Wrightesque thrill-ride, with serotonin-boosting flying kicks landed by characters in intricately beaded lehengas and gold bangles. But beyond how refreshing it is to see young Muslim women as British cinema has never portrayed them, there is profound substance at its core. As Manzoor reflects: ‘It’s a film with real violence, but it’s about the small violence that happens to women’s bodies every day.’