‘Polite Society’ Review: Filmy and Cute at First, but Dragged Down By a Muddled Plot and Bad Comic Timing

Polite Society (English)

Cast: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Nimra Bucha, Akshay Khanna, Ella Bruccoleri, Seraphina Beh, Shobu Kapoor, Shona Babayemi  

Direction: Nida Manzoor

Rating: **1/2

Showing in theaters

Polite Society, a British film described as an “action-comedy,” announces its title in the subcontinent’s three main languages — English, Hindi and Urdu. And like all Indians and Pakistanis based in the U.K., it speaks with a cute desi-Brit accent, but is a Bollywood-loving dramebaaz at heart.

The film, written and directed by Nida Manzoor, begins with the energy, excitement and promise of three school-going besties jumping on a bed together and screaming that they will take down patriarchy, tomorrow. 

Sadly, though the film is powered by dizzy, adolescent puff and passion, it also has the IQ of hormonal teenagers.

The film takes potshots at patriarchy, has some crackling lines, and gets its mojo and rhythm from a fun soundtrack that’s a mix of old Bollywood songs and retro pop — from The Shirelles’ “Mama Said” to R.D. Burman’s “Gulabi Aankhen” (from the 1970 Rajesh Khanna starrer, The Train). All this could have made Polite Society a great fun film, but it is dragged down by weak, muddled writing. 

Polite Society is set in the U.K. and its story, split into five chapters, is about two sisters, and how one saves the other.

The film’s star is chotti behen Ria Khan (Priya Kansara). She is learning kung-fu and dreams of becoming a stunt master. She also goes to school where she has two BFFs — Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) and Clara (Seraphina Beh) — and one jaani dushman, Kovacs (Shona Babayemi). 

Her elder sister Lena Khan (Ritu Arya) should be training to be an artist, but seems to have given it all up because she doesn’t feel like she has it in her. 

Like it was in Ms Marvel, their parents are cute and cool and Ria freely uses the word “shag” in front of them.

Life seems fairly normal. There’s Ria who keeps screaming “I am Fury!” into the screen of her phone camera before launching into the jumping back kick. She fails with a bone-crushing thud, including in a battle with the school bully, Kovacs. Lena, meanwhile, tries to eat her depression by biting into a full peking duck. And mother Fatima (Shobu Kapoor) is beholden to high-society’s posh lady, Raheela (Nimra Bucha), who is looking for an ideal match for her eligible doctor son, Salim (Akshay Khanna). 

After just one meeting with Salim at an Eid soiree, Lena the artist abandons her depression and career plans for long dates.

Ria hates this and is suspicious of Dr. Salim and his mommy. So along with her two besties, she embarks on a plan to break up the couple. It involves idiotic disguises, cyber snooping, a smear campaign and generally acting stupid and getting caught.  

This expedition to find some dirt on Dr. Salim gets repetitive and boring till Ria stumbles upon the truth and the real villain which, incidentally, the film had been hinting about since it began.  

Polite Society starts off strong. 

The film’s story seems to have risen from the rage of desi girls who are told, over and over — by their parents and everyone else — how utterly unremarkable they are. And it’s not often that we get to see non-resident desi women respond in kind to that slight.

But apart from showing its middle finger to the arranged hetero shaadi market — often by using done-to-death jokes (waxing as a method of torture, really?) — the film has little else to say. And once the film’s cuteness wears off, we begin to see its flaws. 

Polite Society is written and directed in comic book style, meaning that while it is set in the real world, its protagonist, antagonist and their respective collaborators often behave as if they are creatures of a different realm.

Ria especially is forever hyper — she’s either super excited or super mad, talks fast with eyes-so-wide that not calling the medics on her feels like a dereliction of one’s civic duty.  

But Polite Society‘s plot is predictable and dull, and its characters don’t feel real or fresh. Most seem like they are secondary characters from Ms Marvel.

The film’s weakest part is its plot, which is first burdened by repetition and at the end, gets a hair-brained twist that is a not-at-all subtle attack on patriarchy’s main preoccupation — with women’s uterus/womb. Sadly, this twist is not thought through and dilutes the film’s feminist cred by pitting women against women.

In comedy, the key is to know how much is too much. Nida Manzoor doesn’t seem to know when to stop and goes on and on, turning her film’s last sequence into one of those cakes which have heavy icing, but are also stuffed with gulab jamuns and have an intricate design on top made with kaju barfis.

The film’s climactic scene begins nicely with an ode to Madhuri Dixit, but then Manzoor piles it on. There’s Raheela’s magenta Banarasi zari pantsuit with a cape to take in, a kidnapping to keep track of, a bride to rescue, and an evil plan to explain. In the middle of all this, a battle of ladies in ghaghra-cholis ensues and it felt like meaningless, directionless mayhem, especially because it’s neither fun nor does it make sense.  Despite all this, I didn’t mind watching Polite Society because some of the film’s performances are delightful. 

Priya Kansara’s stunts are very impressive, but her character can’t really stand on its own because it’s too hyper and unhinged. So she needs two excellent and calming crutches — Alba and Clara played by Ella Bruccoleri and Seraphina Beh. 

Ritu Arya, who plays Lena the artist-in-angst, is very good, as is Nimra Bucha. I would have written a lot more about Ms. Bucha, but that’ll involve spoilers.