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In the fun, genre-mashing action comedy

0:22

Polite Society, Rhea is a teen who

0:25

freaks out when her beloved older sister, Lena, suddenly

0:27

gets engaged to a wealthy doctor. Rhea's

0:30

determined to sabotage the wedding and enlists her

0:32

best friends to help her. The movie

0:34

is the feature debut of Neda Manzoor, who

0:36

created the acclaimed series We Are Lady

0:39

Parts. And like that show, it's

0:41

a sharp yet loving exploration of

0:43

sisterhood, though with a bit more

0:45

fighting and stunts. I'm

0:47

Aisha Harris and today we're talking about Polite Society

0:50

on Pop Culture

0:50

Happy Hour from NPR. Joining

0:53

me today is NPR producer Mallory Yu.

0:55

Welcome back, Mallory. Hey Aisha. Also

0:57

with us is New York Times food reporter and

0:59

author of the best-selling cookbook Indian-ish,

1:02

Priya Krishna. Hey Priya, welcome back to

1:04

you too. Hi, thank you so much. And

1:07

rounding out our panel is vulture TV

1:09

critic Roxana Haddadi. Welcome back to

1:11

you too, Roxana. It's great to have you all here. Thank

1:13

you. I'm very excited to talk

1:16

about this with you all. This was one of

1:18

my favorite things at Sundance this

1:20

year, earlier this year. So I'm very

1:22

excited. So Polite Society

1:24

stars Priya Kansara as Rhea Khan, a

1:27

spunky teen who aspires to be a movie

1:29

stuntwoman. She's very close

1:31

with her supportive older sister, Lina, played by Ritu

1:34

Arya. But Lina is kind of at

1:36

a crossroads in life. She's dropped out of art school

1:38

and still lives at home. Rhea is outraged

1:40

when Lina begins dating and then quickly becomes

1:43

engaged to a wealthy young doctor named

1:45

Salim. He's played by Akshay Khanna.

1:47

Polite Society was written and directed by Nidha

1:49

Mandar and is in theaters now. Priya,

1:53

let's start with you. What are your initial thoughts on

1:55

Polite Society?

1:56

I could not love this movie

1:58

more.

3:54

My

4:00

parents saw it last night and they texted me

4:02

being like, you must see this movie. It's

4:04

like our family. I love it. I

4:07

love it. Roxanna, how about you? What are

4:09

your thoughts? I also really enjoyed

4:11

this one. There

4:15

are a couple parts of it that don't entirely

4:17

hang together for me toward the end, but

4:20

I really enjoyed the hyper real

4:22

tone.

4:23

Edgar Wright's best movie I still think is

4:25

Scott Pilgrim. This movie had

4:28

so much of that energy of

4:30

yes, we're in reality

4:33

and people are going to art school. People

4:35

are discussing the validity of arranged marriages,

4:39

but we're also going to have this drag

4:41

out sisterly fight

4:42

sequence in the middle of the film where

4:44

they destroy their bedrooms. With

4:47

a flat iron, involving a flat iron. Yeah,

4:49

so good. Yeah, and their parents roll their eyes

4:52

at their antics. I love that sort

4:54

of balance of tone. We

4:56

are Lady Parts, Netta Manjor's previous

4:59

comedy short that became a series

5:01

which you can watch on Peacock. Also

5:03

did that really well. Netta has talked

5:05

about how the sibling dynamic of

5:08

this film was inspired by her relationship

5:10

with

5:10

her own older sister, who was

5:12

the risk taker, who was the rebel. I

5:14

think potential is such an interesting

5:17

word to use here because I'm

5:19

Iranian American. Our cultures

5:21

are not, I'm not going to say they're the same because

5:23

I sort of dislike that flattening overall

5:26

of various people's ethnicities, but

5:28

there are commonalities in that sense

5:30

of live up to your potential.

5:33

That's usually something that comes from your parents.

5:36

It's interesting to see this film twist

5:38

that and say, well, when you're siblings

5:40

and you love each other, what do you want for each

5:42

other? What's the best thing? If

5:45

someone else gives up on their

5:47

dreams, what does that mean about the validity of yours?

5:50

I liked that we're having these very

5:52

nuanced sort of conversations while

5:55

we're also

5:55

doing these crazy fight

5:57

sequences that involve Flatiron.

6:00

and picture frames and wedding dresses.

6:02

Dusting through walls. Yeah, I think it's

6:04

a fun time. Yes, yes, awesome. Mallory,

6:08

tell us, how do you feel? Like everyone

6:10

else, I loved this movie. I

6:13

had so much fun. I was just like a

6:15

giddy teenager while I was watching

6:17

it again. Priya Kansara, who plays

6:19

Rhea, just has the most

6:22

expressive, moldable face.

6:24

Like even when she was in the background

6:26

and other characters were interacting, I

6:29

couldn't stop looking at the expressions

6:32

that

6:32

she was pulling, like her little frowns.

6:35

Everything about the way that she embodied

6:37

Rhea was so fun and

6:39

charming,

6:40

and I want her

6:42

to be in everything now. I

6:45

loved

6:46

like every martial arts sequence, and

6:48

I especially loved how they were like delineated

6:51

by like Khan versus X. For

6:53

me, I think the reason why I loved this

6:55

movie so much is that it felt

6:58

very much like a spiritual successor

7:00

to Bend It Like Beckham, which was like

7:02

my girl power teen movie.

7:05

I was playing soccer at the time, so we like

7:07

imitated all the Bend It Like Beckham

7:10

characters. But polite society

7:12

is able to run where Bend It Like Beckham

7:15

was only walking. Like there's no white

7:17

protagonist in this movie. There's

7:19

a white character, but she's kind of a side character.

7:22

All the main characters are brown. Rhea

7:25

doesn't have a love interest, which I

7:27

also really appreciated. She

7:29

goes to martial arts classes, and she has

7:31

that support from her parents, and she's told

7:34

she can't be a stunt woman because

7:36

she's too small or scrawny, and it's not

7:38

because she's a girl. It was really

7:40

deliberately sidestepping the trope

7:43

of like the overbearing, domineering immigrant

7:45

parent and that

7:46

kind of relationship and dynamic,

7:49

while also kind of giving us that like mirror

7:51

image of what that could look like. I

7:53

could see this movie becoming some adolescent

7:56

girl's whole personality, and that makes me

7:58

really happy.

7:59

Yeah, I

8:02

love the point you made about Bend It Like

8:04

Beckham, because I also thought of that as well. But

8:07

also just, like you said, the parents aren't

8:10

trying to keep Rhea from doing what

8:12

she wants to do. In fact, the parents,

8:14

especially Fatima, her mom, is

8:16

really quirky and funny and

8:18

weird. Shobu Kapoor's delivery

8:21

is just kind of spot on. I love it. It's

8:23

so good. It was great to see, like, a mom

8:25

who is kind of hip with it. Like, she's not

8:28

kind of a stuffy

8:29

parent who she actually is invested in her daughters,

8:32

and she cares about their happiness. I

8:34

also like that this film kind of challenges

8:37

Rhea's assertion of

8:39

her feminist stance, because

8:41

she is very much like rah-rah, rail

8:43

against the patriarchy. That is largely

8:46

what is driving her desire to keep

8:48

Lena from getting married. She's like, you're

8:50

not marrying for love, and you're also

8:52

not concerned about your career anymore. Like,

8:54

what are you doing? You know, she is

8:57

that kid who the first time they read any

8:59

sort of feminist piece of work,

8:59

then it becomes, like Mallory said, their whole personality.

9:03

And the

9:05

fact that the movie challenges that, but doesn't put

9:07

it down. Like, she's not

9:10

going to be

9:10

discouraged from being a feminist, because it

9:13

is a very feminist movie, however

9:15

you want to define that. But it's also saying,

9:17

you know, sometimes you need to dial it back, or

9:19

you need to, like, there's more nuance here than

9:22

just, you know, men are trying to ruin

9:24

your dreams. Like, it's not that cut and dry. And

9:27

Rhea is such a perfect

9:29

sort of encapsulation of that feeling,

9:32

and the way that kind of

9:34

brushes up against her sister

9:36

is just really fascinating to see. And I don't

9:39

know if I've seen something like that in a film before,

9:41

so I really love that. And I also love that

9:43

it's a silly movie. Like, there's

9:45

a scene where, like, her worst nightmare,

9:47

Rhea's worst nightmare, is getting waxed, and

9:49

she's like... That is a

9:52

perfect scene. Literally, it's perfect. So

9:54

perfect. We're, Rahila,

9:57

the

9:57

mother-in-law, she's like, we're going to have a spa day, and

9:59

you're going to get... waxed. And then meanwhile,

10:01

Rahila's giving this villain

10:03

speech while she's sitting there. Like

10:06

a James Bond torture sequence. Yes. Set

10:08

to waxing. Yes. So I

10:11

just really love that. I think it's just

10:13

so fun. So I'm going to admit

10:15

this, I still haven't seen We Are Lady parts.

10:17

And I know I need to, believe

10:20

me, it is on my list. But in

10:22

what ways do you find that it's kind of speaking

10:25

to that same sensibility that Menzor

10:27

is showing in that show? What ways

10:29

does this kind of

10:29

show up in polite

10:32

society for you? Well, I mean, We Are

10:34

Lady parts is about a all

10:37

Muslim girl punk group.

10:39

There is a little bit of that

10:42

conservative parents, conservative

10:44

community thing that

10:46

polite society does away

10:48

with a little bit. But ultimately,

10:51

what that series is trying to figure out

10:53

is again, that question of potential.

10:56

And like, how do your dreams align

10:59

with maybe what others want from

11:01

you? How do you figure out what you

11:03

actually want? I mean, Rhea

11:05

is incredibly angry that Lena has dropped

11:08

out of art school. But Lena herself

11:10

says at some point, I don't know if I want to be an

11:12

artist. Yeah. I don't know if I'm good enough. I

11:15

love that we're sort of asking these questions, because

11:17

I think maybe all of us have

11:19

heard, you know, like, if you do what you love,

11:22

you never work a day in your life. Oh,

11:24

I've definitely heard that. You know, like the overlap

11:26

between like your dreams and your passions

11:29

and art and humanities, creatives

11:31

and all that stuff. Like, there is a

11:33

sense that might not be tenable. You know,

11:36

coming from an immigrant family, I lived that

11:38

sense, you know, and having to advocate for what

11:40

you love and what you care about with the

11:42

question of financial insecurity. So

11:44

I think both the projects sort of have that

11:47

grounding, and also put

11:49

through, yes, like the first gen

11:51

immigrant lens, of how do

11:54

you balance individuality and community?

11:56

I loved We Are Lady Parts. I thought it was

11:58

so fun.

11:59

I loved seeing they

12:02

see characters get to have just that

12:04

range and complexity that you

12:06

don't often see. I will say I liked

12:09

polite society so much better. It almost

12:11

feels like... Oh, wow. It felt like an evolution

12:13

of the show to me that was more bold,

12:16

more risk-taking,

12:18

just like a little bit more delicious. It

12:20

felt a little bit like the director

12:22

felt like she could kind of go no

12:24

holds bar with this. She

12:27

proved herself with that show and she got to maybe

12:29

take more risks with this movie. But I just...

12:32

I love both, but I liked this significantly

12:34

better. I think what I will always advocate

12:37

for with TV is just that you

12:39

spend more time with the characters. And

12:41

I also really admire

12:43

what that series does in terms

12:46

of looking at different ways that someone can

12:48

consider themselves Muslim.

12:50

And especially as a Muslim woman in

12:52

an immigrant community, how do you filter

12:55

your faith through that? So as the TV

12:57

critic, I have to choose the TV project.

13:00

But you could absolutely watch all

13:02

of We Are Lady Parts on like a Saturday and

13:04

go see polite society on a Sunday, and that

13:07

would be a dream weekend. Yeah. Mallory,

13:09

I know you mentioned earlier we've talked a

13:11

little bit about Bend It Like Beckham, but Bend

13:14

It Like Beckham was 20-plus

13:16

years ago at this point, which is... Literally 20.

13:18

It's the 20th anniversary this year. Oh,

13:20

wow. It's interesting to

13:22

me to think about how long it's been and where

13:24

we have this sort of filmmaker who's

13:27

able to not just work in like one genre,

13:29

but is able to work within multiple

13:31

modes and genres. I'm

13:34

curious, you know, what you think about

13:36

how she handles the tone

13:38

of these things. I know we're

13:40

not going to talk it into two specifics about the

13:42

ending, but there is sort of a reveal

13:45

that kind of sets the tone for the rest of

13:48

the last third of the film. I would

13:50

love to get a little bit

13:51

more of a sense of how that

13:53

played for you in terms of tone

13:56

and just, you know, overall resolution

13:58

of the conflict at the center of this film.

13:59

I was kind of shocked

14:02

at how easy the transitions felt

14:04

between these like hyper intense

14:06

fight sequences and like

14:08

sisters talking about sister things

14:11

and like mom scolding daughter, you

14:13

know, I sort of felt like it was going

14:15

to be more jarring, but it never felt

14:18

jarring. It always felt like a real skill

14:20

of filmmaking to be able to like make

14:23

these action sequences just like weave

14:25

in and out of the movie in between these really

14:28

like tender

14:29

everyday moments. I just thought the genre

14:31

bending was done so well. I agree.

14:33

I think part of it is that Nida

14:36

Mansoor just loves all

14:38

of these genres. Like you can tell that her

14:41

love for like Jackie

14:44

Chan movies is built

14:46

into her personality and that

14:49

she has a real affection

14:51

for her characters. So

14:54

putting them into this outrageous situation,

14:57

the reason why for me it worked so

14:59

well is because every

15:02

reaction that Rhea

15:04

has, I understood as a girl

15:07

as an like first gen immigrant kid,

15:09

I got her like rage and

15:11

her frustration. The reveal

15:14

at the end I really

15:17

enjoyed because I love an absurd reveal.

15:19

It propelled the movie forward

15:22

in a way because by that point

15:24

in the movie, I was starting to get

15:26

a little like, can this

15:29

film sustain itself like

15:32

this for much longer? I don't

15:34

think it would have worked nearly as well

15:37

without

15:37

Nimrabucha

15:39

just smirking imperiously through

15:42

the whole thing. The way they set her

15:44

up as a villain initially

15:46

is that she's this like imperious queen

15:49

bee. She has money, she's

15:51

got a handsome son, she's admired

15:54

by the women in her community.

15:56

The way that her character is portrayed

15:59

in the movie is that motivation is revealed

16:02

was really satisfying to me because

16:04

I have seen and read and

16:07

heard a lot of

16:09

stories about parental

16:12

expectations for their progeny

16:15

and what that means for them. I thought

16:17

that was a really smart way to kind

16:19

of talk about this dynamic that we

16:21

see played out in maybe less absurd

16:24

ways. I also love an absurd

16:26

reveal but I think

16:28

the film then just

16:29

sort of ends. There was a little

16:32

bit more that I would have liked to

16:35

sort of dive into the

16:37

ramifications

16:40

of what that reveal is. It

16:42

sort of felt like the film goes on

16:44

this genre tangent

16:48

and then remembers that it's a

16:50

story about the sisters and then sort of like pivots

16:53

to get back to that place. I

16:55

almost wanted five to seven

16:58

more minutes to flush that out a

17:00

little bit more but

17:02

at the same time I mean the chemistry

17:04

between these two actresses is so special.

17:07

They so clearly really enjoy

17:10

each other. I was able to interview

17:12

them both and the affection

17:14

is really genuine and it's just

17:16

really heartfelt. So I also think

17:19

the clarity of that relationship for

17:21

me sort of excused

17:24

a little bit of the missteps I thought in the third

17:26

act. I will say as a counterpoint to that

17:29

I thought the third act the last

17:31

like 25

17:31

minutes of the movie or you

17:33

are just like running towards

17:36

the end and then the movie sort of

17:38

ends and I also

17:40

was like I want to know more I have more questions

17:43

but maybe it was an intentional choice on the director's

17:45

part to sort of leave us with these unanswered

17:47

questions and to sort of not neatly

17:50

tie up all of these threads but like

17:52

I really loved the last act

17:54

of the movie like the absurd reveal leading

17:56

into like everything that happens after

17:59

that.

17:59

for me was just so

18:02

much fun. Yeah. There's just a throwing

18:04

everything at the wall

18:06

sort of aspect to it that I really admire

18:08

and you often get with, you know,

18:11

an A-director's first time film. I

18:13

think even if it might be

18:15

a little bit abrupt, the ending, I

18:18

do still think that reveal and then everything else

18:20

that comes after it just feels really

18:23

delicious. I also just think that like,

18:25

and Roxanne, I'm curious if you feel this way, but

18:27

like sometimes as like a Desi person

18:29

existing in a Desi community, you

18:32

sort of, there are certain people who

18:34

you wonder about like, is

18:36

this person running an evil empire? Like

18:39

why is this auntie like this? Why

18:42

is she so overbearing? Why is she so

18:44

nosy? What is really happening here?

18:47

And for the movie to like actually

18:49

be like, what if something actually was

18:51

going on and to like play out

18:54

that insane scenario

18:55

I found just like so thoroughly

18:58

entertaining and it felt like it was sort of indulging

19:00

some of my like deepest, darkest thoughts.

19:03

Well, yeah, I mean, the film

19:06

is definitely operating on two

19:08

modes, right? It's the surface level

19:11

of this mansion is so beautiful. Their

19:13

outfits are so precise. This mother-son

19:16

relationship is so loving and so kind

19:18

and what's underneath all that? So yeah,

19:20

I totally agree with you that it sort

19:23

of indulges our

19:25

most paranoid conspiracy

19:28

theories about our own communities.

19:31

And what are they really hiding? Well,

19:34

there you have it. Polite society indulging our

19:36

paranoia in the best way possible.

19:40

Tell us what you think about polite society. You

19:42

can find us on Facebook at facebook.com

19:45

slash pchh. And up

19:47

next, we're going to be talking about what's making

19:49

us happy this week.

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And now it's time for our favorite segment of

21:26

this week and every week, What's Making Us Happy?

21:29

Priya, let us know what is making you happy

21:32

this week. So this isn't like the most sexy

21:34

thing to make you happy this week, but

21:37

as a New Yorker, I feel like there are a lot

21:39

of things that I'm just uninformed about.

21:41

And one of those things is like brokers and

21:43

broker fees. And I recently

21:45

listened to an episode of

21:48

the Hellgate podcast and they

21:50

basically interviewed a broker and

21:52

you learn about the history of broker

21:54

fees, why they exist, should they

21:56

exist, should they not exist? I

21:59

feel like if you...

21:59

rent an apartment in New York, it's probably

22:02

worth a listen. I feel like I

22:05

don't do a good enough job educating myself

22:07

on tenant rights and why things

22:09

are the way they are. And the broker

22:12

is really funny. She like is sort of like

22:14

somewhat I could see myself like meeting at a party,

22:16

not, you know, not the usual brokers I've

22:18

dealt with. So yeah, the brokers

22:21

episode of the Hellgate podcast. All

22:23

right. I don't live in New York anymore. So

22:26

I haven't had to deal with brokers for a while, but

22:29

man, I'm not sure if they should

22:29

exist. The

22:32

broker is not sure brokers should exist. Well,

22:34

then I like her. It sounds

22:37

like we could be friends. Okay.

22:39

Yeah. All right. Rex Santa.

22:43

What is making you happy this week? I hope that I'm

22:45

not

22:45

stepping on Mallory's toes because

22:48

what I was going to talk about is bend it like back.

22:50

Okay. No, no, go for it. I rewatched

22:53

it on Disney Plus and it just made

22:55

me so happy. It really took me

22:57

back to being a teenager and wondering

23:01

like what I ever get to do what I

23:03

want to do. The movie just still

23:05

works so well. The pacing is

23:07

so good. The humor is so specific.

23:11

You know what? I am not ashamed to say

23:13

that Jonathan Rees-Myers in this movie

23:15

is an incredibly beautiful man and

23:17

I will take away love interest if he looks like

23:19

that. And I would also encourage

23:21

people to watch the rest of

23:23

Gringer Chata's filmography. Yeah.

23:26

We don't talk enough about her work

23:28

or also Mira Nair's work and how

23:31

important they were in breaking

23:33

boundaries for female directors,

23:36

female directors of color. Blinded

23:38

by the Light is another film that Gringer Chata

23:40

made. It came out about three years ago. So good.

23:43

It was sort of like the male version of Bend

23:45

It Like Beckham. So good, totally

23:47

disappeared, made very little impact

23:49

and it bummed me out because again it was

23:52

hitting that pleasure center part of my brain.

23:55

Bend It Like Beckham specifically and Gringer

23:57

Chata's filmography at large

23:59

has been amazing.

23:59

making me happy this week. Well, thank you so much

24:02

for Roxanna. That's Bend It Like Beckham, and it's streaming

24:04

on Disney+. Mallory, let

24:06

us know what is making you happy. So what's

24:08

making me happy this week is Criterion

24:11

Collections starring Michelle Yeoh. Yes.

24:14

Nice. I think it's pretty obvious why it's

24:16

bringing me joy, because obviously

24:19

it's Michelle Yeoh kicking ass. I have

24:21

recently watched the really goofy movie,

24:24

Yes, Madam, which she has this

24:26

like short 80s power lady haircut,

24:29

and she plays a good cop

24:31

who is paired up with

24:33

a bad lady cop from Scotland

24:35

Yard, and the two of them just

24:38

kick so much butt across Hong Kong. It's

24:41

really goofy. And then the

24:43

heroic trio, which also features Maggie Chung

24:46

and Anita Mui. The three

24:48

leads have to get together to fight

24:50

an evil eunuch who lives underneath

24:53

the city. And I should warn people

24:55

listening that it can get pretty dark,

24:58

but it's also just a genuine

25:00

joy to watch Michelle

25:03

Yeoh square up against and with

25:05

Maggie Chung and Anita Mui, these like

25:08

icons of Hong Kong movies.

25:11

I'd also be remiss not to mention Crouching Tiger, Hidden

25:13

Dragon, which is of course a jewel.

25:15

So that's the Criterion Collections starring

25:17

Michelle Yeoh playlist. It features

25:20

movies like Yes, Madam, The Heroic Trio,

25:22

and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I'm so glad you

25:24

recommended that. I've been making my way through that as well.

25:27

And yes, Madam, yes. So thank

25:29

you so much for that recommendation.

25:31

Well, speaking of dark, I've

25:33

been rewatching Review,

25:35

the great TV series that

25:39

aired on Comedy Central. It was based off an Australian

25:41

TV series. And this version

25:43

stars Andy Daly as Forest McNeil,

25:46

who's this like overly enthusiastic

25:49

and pretty dim critic who sets

25:51

out to review basically all aspects

25:54

of life. And basically the setup is it's like a

25:56

mock inventory style. He has

25:58

a co-host named AJ.

25:59

who's played by the delightful Megan

26:02

Stevenson, who manages to be

26:04

both bubbly and deadpan as

26:06

she announces Forrest's

26:08

new prompts. And so viewers,

26:10

and I put viewers in air quotes because these are obviously

26:13

actors, but they ask him to

26:15

try out things. Like, what is it

26:17

like to get addicted to drugs or

26:19

sleep with a celebrity or experience

26:21

road rage? He

26:24

will not, not do something,

26:27

no matter what it is. As

26:29

the show progresses,

26:29

you have to kind of watch it in order because there's

26:32

threads that move along. He gets divorced

26:35

because one of the prompts is, what is it like to get divorced?

26:37

And then like his ex-wife pops up from time

26:39

to time and is really angry with him. It

26:43

is so funny. And I think

26:45

what I love is that it's a sort of very

26:47

smart satire of the

26:49

personalities, internet personalities who will do

26:52

stupid things for likes and clicks.

26:54

And it's also just an interesting commentary on

26:57

white masculinity in so many different ways.

26:59

So I highly recommend if you haven't watched

27:01

it or if you need a rewatch,

27:04

watch Review. It is on Paramount+. I

27:06

love

27:07

it. It's so dark. That

27:09

is what's making me happy this week. And

27:12

if you want links for what we recommended plus more

27:14

recommendations, you should definitely sign up for

27:16

our newsletter at npr.org

27:18

slash pop culture newsletter. That brings

27:20

us to the end of our show. Priya Krishna, Mallory

27:23

Yu, Raksena Haddadi. Thanks

27:25

so much for being here. This was an

27:27

absolute pleasure. So fun. Thank

27:29

you. Oh, this was so fun. This episode was

27:31

produced by Hafsa Fatima and edited by

27:34

Mike Katziv. Our supervising producer

27:36

is Jessica Reedy and Hello Come In provides

27:38

our theme music. Thanks so much for

27:40

listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

27:43

I'm Aisha Harris and we'll see you all next

27:45

week.

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