As a teenager, I spent most of my days obsessed with martial arts. I practiced Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. This included a series of elegant, sharp movements (called “forms”), sparring, conditioning (stamina and strength training), and basic punches and kicks.I watched martial arts movies like Tsui Hark. Once upon a time in China And Ang Lee's green destiny, I read books about Bruce Lee and impulsively performed martial arts at school and family events. I also liked his science fiction, and a few years later, when I entered university, I became a big fan of Jane Austen. All the while, I was also grappling with the complexities of my identity as a British Asian. I'm both Indian and someone who was born (and has lived all my life) in the UK.
Last year I heard about a film that actually combined many of these things into one piece: Britain's South Asian experience, martial arts, the qualities of Jane Austen, and I was very surprised. , I was instantly interested. (There were also science fiction elements, but I found out later.) That's what the movie is called. polite societywritten and directed by Nida Manzoor, I can't believe it exists even though I've seen it twice now.
polite society The film follows Leah (Priya Kansara), a British-Asian teenager obsessed with martial arts and stunts, and her younger sister Lena (Ritu Arya), an art school dropout, who meets Salim (Ritu Arya), an attractive single geneticist. The story revolves around her increasing panic at the prospect of marrying Akshay Khanna. Salim also has a truly horrible mother named Raheela played by Nimra Bucha. As the story progresses, Leah explores as many options as possible to stop the wedding, taking many ridiculous turns, and just when it seems like she must stop, she turns to Salim. (reminiscent of Austen's Deception), although Lear is compared to Darcy at one point, rather than Wickham) and Raheela are the villains. They plan to clone Raheela and use Lena as a carrier for that clone. This movie can be so ridiculous that it should be taken as both serious and disingenuous, and yet it still works so well, mainly because there's a human basis to all of this. . At its root is Leah's terrible fear of losing her sister, and that losing her Lena also means (for her) losing her own dream of becoming a stuntwoman. Thing.
Film scholar David Bordwell (in speaking of the “classic kung fu films”) says that on-screen martial arts are a means of conveying personality; polite society also adopts this style. Manzoor said she wanted to explore the pain of being a teenage girl (when everything feels almost violently intense) through the action. With this in mind, she highlighted some of the most important martial arts scenes in the film and explained how Manzoor and her team were able to explore characterization in such a powerful way through combat. I will explain in detail.
One of the big fight scenes in this movie is between Leah and Lena. (Lena confronts Leah in her room when she realizes that Leah is interfering with her relationship with Salim.) Their fight is punctuated with humor (shots of her parents listening to the resigned screams from downstairs) and , blending the vicious reality of a heated argument. between brothers. The choreography of this scene reflects this concern. It's like a combination of UFC style combat and street fighting, and it's terrifyingly extreme. Lena throws her elbows, headbutts, chokes, and even burns Leah's face with a hair tool. Leah, who is a very fierce and aggressive character throughout the movie, fights very defensively in this scene, showing her respect for her sister and her attachment to her.
As with the rest of the movie, Leah doesn't actually want to hurt Lena, but wants to save her from what she sees as a terrible fate. She tries to thwart Lena's attacks using Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu-like grappling techniques (basically pinning her to the ground), and only when Lena is choking her does she unleash a harsh attack of her own (biting). )do. Lena finally spills her truth. She fears that she is not good enough to be an artist and that is why she decided to proceed with her marriage. The battle ends with that sad, gentle sound. Leah is unable to convince Lena of anything, and Lena is distraught as she admits her sense of failure. Manzoor wanted this battle to be “the bloodiest”. Because a brother knows what can hurt him the most. You can see this in the actual battle, and you can also see it in Lena's final confession. Leah pushed her to her breaking point.
Probably the scene I enjoy the most is the scene at Lena and Salim's wedding where Leah dances as a distraction. The dance itself is a tribute to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Devdas, a famous 2002 Bollywood film based on the novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. In the film, a character named Chandramukhi (played by Madhuri Dixit Nene) wears a bright green dress and sings an unsettling, hypnotic song “Maal'' sung by Kavitha Krishnamurthy and KK. They are dancing to the song “Dara.”I don't remember being a big fan Devdas I saw it a long time ago, but I've always loved that song. The main line of the chorus of “Maal Dara” seems to be translated as “My joy is killing me.” Leah uses this as her sister's wedding song, giving the normally happy occasion a disturbing and eerie atmosphere. Her movements reinforce this.she injects Devdas The choreography has martial arts intent in both her facial expressions and movements.
Rear movements are sometimes different. For example, when you throw in a pose beautifully. matrix At the end of the song, Morpheus beckons to Salim, just like he did to Neo during a sparring session at the dojo, and there is also a scene where he mimes shooting himself in the head while glaring at Salim. But other times, she uses the original choreography and takes on a new, more aggressive tone depending on the context, such as slicing her palm with one hand just like Dixit did. Devdas. Since it is derived from Ria, it has a slashing motion reminiscent of martial arts. Dance and martial arts are often linked, especially when describing the fights seen on screen. (Some people have compared the beautiful wirework choreography of movies like this: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon To dance. ) polite society Leah's performance blended martial arts and Indian dance in a way never seen before.
After the dance, Leah is left alone with Raheela and has to fight her. Manzoor wanted this fight to feel like Lear facing “The Big Boss”, Lear's ultimate villain. The fight with Raheela is similar to the fight with Lena in the sense that Leah is once again overwhelmed, but the style and emotional elements of this fight are both very different. The style of this piece references classic kung fu movies. Raheela uses motions that look traditional rather than modern, and are smoother and more graceful. She expresses her slipperiness as a villain with deft movements. She uses the outside and inside of her forearm to block attacks, and at one point when setting up her stance, she makes what appears to be a Tai Chi-like gesture with one hand like a hook. Instead of brawling like Lena, she catches Leah's attack, turns around, and fights back. Raheela at one point uses the sash of her clothes to parry Leah's punch, then snaps it at her, blinding her, and even uses the same sash to strangle her. Roblok Rock, who arranged the martial arts, said he wanted to emphasize how vicious Raheela is through her techniques, and that these particular moves are derived from silat, a type of martial arts in Southeast Asia. It is said that it was adopted.
Outside of the fighting, Raheela is incredibly creepy, although some of the impact behind that creepiness may be lost on audiences who are not familiar with the cultural context. I was always encouraged to call many elders who are not related to me by blood as “auntie” or “uncle” as a sign of respect. (I still do.) Elders hold a special place in the hierarchy of South Asian families, and if they happen to be malicious, it can lead to truly dire situations. This has an evil quality to it, and respect must be shown for those who, in Hamlet’s words, “may be villains with a smile on their face.” Raheela embodies this quality perfectly, especially in the scene where Leah goes to her house to apologize for her behavior, and Raheela seems to accept it at first. Eventually, the situation becomes more and more threatening, and there is an unsettling waxing scene, where Leah has to fight Frankie and escape while Raheela laughs. It’s comedic, but also feels sadly realistic, as it mimics the helplessness one feels in front of someone of higher “status.” Although this is rooted in a specific cultural context, there are also parallels with Austen's work in the way that surface politeness mixes with hostile undercurrents and then the collapse of that politeness. Raheela tries to control Leah in the same way that Austen's Lady Catherine de Bourgh does with Elizabeth. Both Leah and Elizabeth are inferior in experience, wealth, and status, but they behave in unconventional and rebellious ways and never give in.
Manzoor still remembers adding sympathy for Raheela, citing the lack of choice faced by women of her generation and the suffering that can result from it. There is again a sense of sympathy at the end when Leah finally defeats her and Raheela is left on her street, reaching out her hand to Lena in despair. In the end, it is not Leah's or Lena's dreams that are shattered, but her dreams.
The lyrics of the film's end credits song by X-Ray Spex say it all: “Identity is the crisis, you understand?” Leah is obsessed with the need to become a “stunt woman,” Lena is afraid of facing failure as an “artist,” and Raheela is reborn through cloning to become the person she thinks she was “destined to be.” is obsessed with. Their fights throughout the movie reflect their passion and fear. Raheela's delicate and wonderful movements, Lena's desperate brutality, and (in the words of her friend) Leah's admirable tenacity. Raheela says Leah has “big dreams”, but in reality she is “completely unremarkable”. Leah's reaction, the elegant jump she's never been able to properly execute before, her spin, and her kick, is the perfect reaction in a film that approaches martial arts as an integral part of its characterization.
