Among other things, Polite Society is also a coming-of-age story. Ria is a teenager. She can be brash and immature. At one point, unable to find any dirt on Salim, she tries to frame him for philandering by planting condoms filled with hand lotion. She is also an entertainingly unreliable narrator. The film leans into this aspect, playing up the melodrama and heightened stakes with overdramatic stare downs and fantastical action sequences which see her battle a slew of opponents such as her school bully, sadistic beauticians, disapproving aunties and her sister’s future mother-in-law. Underneath it all, though, she also has an optimism and zest for life that shines through in her unwavering quest to become a stuntperson and one-sided correspondence with her idol (real-life British stuntwoman Eunice Huthart).
Dreams are a very significant theme in the movie. The Khan sisters are at odds because, unlike Ria, Lena has decided to abandon her dream of becoming an artist. It could be argued that the fact Lena is lost and consumed with self-doubt makes her easier prey for Salim and his mother who, it transpires, do have malicious intent. Ria certainly thinks so. Raheela, on the other hand, dreams of a do-over for herself to live a life where she wasn’t held back by the patriarchy and achieved her true potential. The director successfully juxtaposes Ria and Raheela, the protagonist and antagonist; one still possessing a youthful exuberance, while the other is embittered and resentful. Ria dismisses Raheela’s assertion that they are both alike, but it isn’t difficult to imagine the teenage heroine being forced down a similar path to her nemesis, should society keep pushing her down.
Indeed, in a film about smashing the patriarchy, Raheela makes for a fascinating villain. Manzoor has fun with the concept of a matriarch upholding the patriarchy. On the surface, the character has liberal views that set her apart from other more conservative minded women in the South Asian community. For example, she has no issues with her future daughter in law sleeping over at their place before marriage. “We women shouldn’t have to hide our bodies,” she preaches to Salim and Lena at one point. Yet, without giving too much away, she has no qualms about using another woman’s body without consent to achieve her goals.
