“I grew up on Bollywood cinema and on Hong Kong kung fu, and they both have this shared … love of the spectacle,” screenwriter and director Nida Manzoor explained in an interview with The Michigan Daily.
Her film “Polite Society” embodies the concept of spectacle — it’s not just a movie, but rather an entire visual and aural experience. “Polite Society” is a whirlwind of color, action, comedy and heart.
It’s simultaneously lighthearted and profound. There are comedic moments of levity between the two sisters at the heart of the story and also a more subtle satirical social commentary on misogyny in the movie. It features heart-stopping action sequences that fit hand in hand with unique twists on graceful, traditional Bollywood-style dance scenes. Its score calls back to sound effects that would be at home in a wrestling match and also includes the fast and furious drumbeat of more traditional Desi music. Everything is both in tune with each other and its exact opposite, epitomizing the concept of dichotomy. “Polite Society” exists in dualities, containing multitudes that will ensure viewers leave the theater satisfied.
The film, first released at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, is primarily about Ria (Priya Kansara, “Bridgerton”), who wants nothing more than to be a stuntwoman in the vein of her hero Eunice Huthart. Ria’s closest confidante and best friend is her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya, “Red Notice”), and the film is an ode to their sisterhood. Their relationship is messy and crazy and intense, just as all sister relationships are. One scene finds them in a physical altercation, exaggerated to the point that they seem like boxers in a ring rather than sisters merely feuding. And for anyone that has a sister, you know that’s how real sisters exist: almost violent in all their interactions, both positive and negative.
When Lena gives up on her artistic passion and finds herself instead taken by the neighborhood charmer Salim (Akshay Khanna, “Grace”), Ria is terrified that she is about to lose her sister to the daunting, exacting rishta process and marriage as a whole. From that moment on, Ria sets out to sabotage the burgeoning relationship between Lena and Salim, going as far as following Salim at the gym, planting dirt on him and breaking into his house. Needless to say, she goes a bit far. However, it soon becomes clear that she isn’t too far off in assuming the worst about Salim and his mother Raheela (Nimra Bucha, “Ms. Marvel”). As the events unfold, viewers get an idea of Ria’s vulnerability, an understanding of her hopes and fears: She just wants to see her sister by her side. The notion of Lena running off to Singapore with Salim is terrifying to her — to lose her best friend and biggest cheerleader in one fell swoop is something she just isn’t prepared for.
And while the sisters’ relationship is the heart of the movie, there’s so much more for viewers to enjoy. Set to the background of the rishta process and the somewhat archaic aspects of finding a suitable spouse in Desi culture, the film is also an eerily accurate, yet also satirical, commentary on misogyny and sexism. It hyperbolizes the issues at hand related to marriage, inflating them to a degree that makes it even easier to see what is wrong with how some people view women and expect them to behave.
“(The movie) really resonates the kind of specificity of (Desi) culture,” Manzoor said. “I wrote it when I was in my early 20s, when I was really feeling the pressure from my parents to sort of settle down, not follow my career, get married, and I was really pissed off.”
That innate rage, and the power that comes with it, is visible — almost tangible — in the film. It’s not surprising to note that “Polite Society” was somewhat inspired by things that Manzoor was really feeling, as it feels like an intimate portrait of a South Asian woman’s anger and confusion, her messy but real, true feelings.
“I felt like I could feel a burden of … their expectation,” she admitted. “You know, as a young woman, you’re supposed to get married, you’re supposed to provide grandchildren or whatever, (but I thought), ‘No, man, I want to do other stuff.’” It’s because of this dichotomy between what was expected and what she really wanted that Manzoor decided to “basically take a hammer to” the stereotypes and expectations that existed.
Manzoor created a film that effortlessly celebrates the specific experiences of South Asian women while also serving as a kind of blank slate for any woman to find solace and relatability. While there are moments where “Polite Society” brushes up against science fiction and contains some almost thriller-esque elements that are certainly less likely to be found in a woman’s real-life experiences, even these more far-fetched concepts become something to look toward for an understanding of womanhood.
Between witty, at times almost dark, humor and aesthetic moments of color and wonder, the film touches on something real. A tale of sisterhood and womanhood, “Polite Society” is nothing short of magical.
Daily Arts Writer Sabriya Imami can be reached at simami@umich.edu.