SISTERLY affection, parental disappointment and bold action come into play in Polite Society which opens in cinemas on Friday.
The film follows martial artist-in-training Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) who believes she must save her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) from her impending marriage. After enlisting the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood.
Writer-director Nida Manzoor said she wrote the first draft of the script in her early 20s, but it took the years that followed for her to find the perfect partners to bring the film to vibrant, action-packed life on screen.
“It's been a long road but I have now been able to make the feature film of my dreams. My favourite thing about making film and television is the opportunity to bring marginalized communities into mainstream genres – action, sci-fi, and comedy.
"Occupying areas of storytelling we are so often invisible in. I love writing comedy. It’s my go-to form of expression when I put pen to paper, my most natural form of storytelling. I feel comedy is the most disarming of all the genres. If done well it can make us warm to characters from different backgrounds deeply and immediately," she said.
Manzoor hoped the film would feel like an ode to all the films that had shaped her, but she also wanted to see something on screen that she hadn’t experienced before.
“I wanted to make a film about two sisters that grounds the sister love story because I don't think we really get to see that in a lot of films. I drew from my own relationship with my sister. It’s such a close, intimate and loving relationship but when you fight with your siblings, that kind of fighting can be the most brutal.
“I wanted to make this film for many reasons but predominantly so I could see a South Asian teenage girl as an action hero. I grew up loving the spectacle of action movies but feeling extremely left out, so this film is for my teenage self. South Asian characters are often relegated to shop owners and terrorists, token friends to the white leads. It meant everything to me to centre the film around a South Asian girl – who is flawed and funny and kicks ass,” said Mansoor
Arya’s most recent popular role was that of Interpol's Inspector Urvashi Das, forever in hot pursuit of the Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds characters in the Netflix comic-action drama Red Notice.
In an interview with Hollywood Insider Arya spoke about the dynamics of the film and working on set.
“Lena (her character) is an artist and she has just dropped out of art school. So she is not in the best way. She is little bit glum, a little bit sad, a little bit lost and she is taking a bit of time to figure out what she wants. My dynamic with Riya (played by Priya Kansara) is that I’m her sister and she is trying to pick me up and snap me out of it. It works to some degree, but not enough to be distracted.
“Lena also wants to help Riya with her ambition to be a stunt woman. She is her biggest cheer leader and champion, and it’s beautiful to see two sisters who are really trying their best to help each other. Priya is amazing. We had a lot of fun working together.
“The producers have been really compassionate. It was a lovely atmosphere on set. This was a majority all female crew and that was very empowering, to come in everyday and see all these amazing women who are on top of their game. I think it’s so empowering to have this ensemble that is such a diverse cast and primarily South Asian.
“The fights are so epic, it was one of the things I was really excited about when I read the script. I hope that people just come and see it and enjoy it and take something from it, ” she said.
Polite Society will release in cinemas on Friday.
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