Cast: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Nimra Bucha , Akshay Khanna
Polite Society is a British action comedy-drama that has finally found its way to American theatres, written and directed by Nida Manzoor as her feature film directorial debut premiered at the Sundance Film Festival beginning of this year. The story revolves around two sisters who are poles apart and yet super tight-knit- they’re the typical siblings who can’t live with each other but can’t live without each other. Starring Priya Kansara as Ria Khan with older sister Lena Khan played by Ritu Arya, Ria is trying very hard to not let Lena’s artistic passion die as she has dropped out of art school and is now looking for someone to ‘settle down with’. The younger sister comes up with all kinds of theories to convince Lena that the boy she has found and fallen in love with is not right for her as she can feel it in her sixth sense. This leads to a series of paranoid attempts along with the help of Ria’s high school friends to prove her ground. From sneaking into mansions to filling up condoms – this has it all. It is supposed to be a comic film as a social parody but it just misses the mark as it can’t keep up with the tone and energy it has set out to achieve for itself.
Ria is what would be described as a “tomboy” younger sister as she’s into martial arts and adds a little of the Kill-Bill energy to this movie however her flaws in aim are depicted from the start. The plot takes some unusual twists as the reality behind her older sister’s marriage comes to light and for a lack of better words- it keeps getting weirder. It somehow got onto the sci-fi track and the build-up and comic timing from the first half of the movie just comes crashing down – without giving spoilers and letting go of its charm that’s all that I can tell you. Yes, the characters are relatable and there is talk about the expectations from brown girls in society recently but I still feel like it is a misrepresentation as there is a lot of morality that is attached to their characters which are all strong in their own right and needs to be worked upon.
How the film started off is what I wish continued through the 105 minutes but the energy, courage, and flair of detail that this movie shows are commendable. It sets up what we can expect from Manzoor. If you have some free time and want a light movie that doesn’t make a lot of sense and yet is empowering to women – this is a good watch and an even better movie to just have a good laugh over it comes to theatres April 28th!
