- Ritu Arya, Ella Bruccoleri, Nimra Bucha
- April 28th 2023
- Nida Manzoor
This British comedy follows a wannabe stuntwoman who wants to stop her sister from getting married.
The hilarious new British comedy Polite Society establishes its stars Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya as ones to watch.
They play two British-Pakistani sisters, Ria and Lena Khan, in Nida Manzoor’s feature directorial debut.
Ria is a teenage schoolgirl who knows martial arts and dreams of becoming a stuntwoman, while Lena is an art school dropout with no direction.
At a fancy Eid soirée, Lena hits it off with Salim (Akshay Khanna) and within weeks, they are planning their wedding.
Ria is unable to accept that her older sister is leaving home and becomes convinced that Salim and his mother Raheela (Nimra Bucha) are bad people.
She recruits her best friends Clara and Alba (Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri) to help sabotage the relationship and save her sister.
Is Ria telling the truth about Salim and Raheela? Is she delusional? Is she fabricating her claims to keep her sister at home? You’ll have to wait until the third act to find out.
Polite Society is an absolute blast and is sure to be a hit, particularly with younger girls. It has a wry sense of humour and an irreverent tone, loads of jokes and funny performances.
Ria, who shows off her martial art skills on a YouTube channel, sometimes visualises herself as a stuntwoman in an action movie so we are treated to several action sequences that may or may not be a figment of her imagination.
These scenes are well-executed and a lot of fun to watch, particularly seeing such a young schoolgirl nail certain stunts in slow motion.
Newcomer Kansara is the star of the show. She makes Ria endearing despite her moody teenager attitude and questionable choices.
Her close sisterly bond with Arya’s Lena is very believable and it’s a joy to watch them interact with each other. They are funny too, but their main job is to bring the heart and the stakes to the story.
The comedic scene-stealers are Beh and Bruccoleri as Ria’s sidekicks. They achieve the most laughs thanks to their quirky facial expressions and hilarious line delivery and get their moment to shine in the climactic wedding showdown.
With stellar comedic performances, fun action sequences, beautiful costumes, and a killer soundtrack, Polite Society is an entertaining movie from start to finish.
In cinemas from Friday 28th April.
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