Polite Society: On the red carpet with Nida Manzoor, Priya Kansara and Akshay Khanna

Polite Society is the fun and feisty feminist action movie from feature debut screenwriter and director Nida Manzoor (We Are Lady Parts) that tells the story of Ria Khan (Priya Kansara), the London-based British-Pakistani teen who has aspirations of becoming a stuntwoman. Under the pseudonym “The Fury”, she starts making amateur martial arts films for her YouTube channel with her sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), who’s dropped out of art school. But her traditional parents are less than happy about her chosen career trajectory. When Lena seems destined for an arranged marriage to dashing doctor Selim (Akshay Khanna), Ria is determined to make sure her sister doesn’t give up both their dreams for an outdated ideal.

Aspects of Bollywood blend with martial arts movies and coming-of-age sentiments; stunning costumes, playful stunt scenes and explorations of sisterhood and balancing tradition with being a woman in the modern-day abound.

The Upcoming hit the green carpet at London’s Curzon Mayfair to hear from the cast and director about the making of the film at its premiere. Kansara told us about the appeal of taking on the role of Ria, how she prepared and pulled off the stunt scenes, and the themes she thinks arise from the story.

Filmmaker Manzoor stopped to chat to us about the inspiration behind her movie, the process of choosing and working with her cast, and why her film feels refreshing in terms of its take on the genre and representation of the British Asian community.

Khanna also shared how he saw his character of Salim and some of his favourite moments on set.

Sarah Bradbury

Polite Society is released nationwide on 28^th April 2023.

Watch the trailer for Polite Society here: