Review by
Blair MacBride
Directed by: Nida Manzoor
Starring: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Nimra Bucha, Akshaye Khanna, Jeff Mirza, Ella Bruccoleri
Nida Manzoor bursts onto the scene with
her side-splitting feature debut Polite Society. This outrageous comedy action thriller mash-up provides a
lovable wackiness that will live long in the memory.
Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) is an aspiring stuntwoman, living at
home with parents (Shobu Kapoor and Jeff Mirza) and sister
Lena (Ritu Arya) - the latter having recently returned home after
dropping out of art school. The two sisters have a rich bond, evidenced
in them both being each other's champion: Ria is constant in her belief
that they will both eventually succeed in their dream jobs, and Lena
begrudgingly enjoys acting as camerawoman for her little sister's
martial arts YouTube videos. However, after an Eid celebration to end
all Eid celebrations, Lena becomes attracted to hoighty-toighty well-off
bachelor Salim (Akshay Khanna).
To bolster Ria's already clear revulsion of her sister's suitor, she is
later left in utter dismay as Lena agrees to be his betrothed after
being "chosen" in a semi-arranged marriage. Ria, though, refuses to
accept what she sees as her sister's impending demise, and rallies her
friends to embark on a series of crazy slapstick schemes to put a stop
to Lena's union before it's too late.
Polite Society flys the flag for quirky festival films
tremendously well. Manzoor creates a brilliantly choreographed comedic
hullabaloo with her writing and directing, almost taking influence from
the coming-of-age humour of Netflix's Sex Education. She also triumphs at entwining many areas of different inspirations -
including, but not limited to, the beauty of an Asian wedding, the
action of kung-fu, and the thrill of a heist flick - all without it
feeling too much to properly enjoy. In fact, that's what gives this film
its kick.
On top of that, just as the creative leads of the overall project
succeed, so too does its ensemble cast. Kansara is a satirical star in
the making with her memorable first leading performance as
stirrer-in-chief Ria, and her mates Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) and
Clara (Seraphina Beh) provide the perfect amount of sidekick
hilarity. Other noteworthy mentions have to go to Arya as Lena and the
delightfully deviant Nimra Bucha as Raheela; the former always
having a sarcastic quib on offer, and the latter carrying herself as if
she had the combined pizazz of a pantomime villain peppered with the
fear of a seasoned Bond villain.
There is little to no doubt that, as this feature progresses to its
final stages, Polite Society gets sillier and sillier,
perhaps even cringeworthy, on one or two occasions. Further craziness of
horror; supernatural genetics; dance routines, and even shootouts, get
thrown into the ever growing pot of mayhem. So much so, that it might
even leave this film's biggest enthusiast questioning "What on God's
green earth just happened there?"
Putting that to one side, however, this nonsensicality is the very
essence of Polite Society's hilarious brilliance. It's crazy, unique, and unbelievably
outlandish at times; but most importantly, for the vast majority, it
will have you barreled over in hysterics.
