In an echo of Glasgow Film Festival’s opening gala film Girl, the closing gala film is also a debut feature. Polite Society, from writer-director Nida Manzoor, is a playful martial-arts comedy revolving around two sisters, and the romance of the elder with a wealthy geneticist.

Ria (Priya Kansara) is a schoolgirl who loves martial arts and dreams of becoming a professional stunt woman. She shuns the conventional and respectable future her parents would have for her as a doctor’s receptionist or worse.

Her sister Lena (Ritu Arya) has recently given up on being an artist and this frightens Ria, as it means Lena might cave into her parents wishes, get a suitable job, and leave Ria alone with her big dreams.

When the girls are invited with their parents to hob-nob with a rich family, her sister is singled out as the dream wife for the eligible bachelor Salim (Akshay Khanna) by his wicked-stepmotherish mother Raheela (Mimra Bucha). Lena begins a courtship with Salim. Mortified, and afraid of losing her sister, Ria embarks on a campaign against Salim, and ropes in her schoolfriends to help.

What follows is an enjoyable romp as Ria attempts to rescue her sister and bring her back to a normal life in the house with her and her normal family. The girls’ parents played by Shobu Kapur and Jeff Mirza were great – being completely at a loss as to how to deal with everything around them and just wanting a quiet life. Mimra Bucha also excels as Salim’s devilish mother.

Ailie Hunter
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