Yahoo News Meet Your Maker: How Jackie Chan and a Kill Bill fight influenced Nida Manzoor's new film Polite Society
Getty Images / Paramount + / Focus features Nida Manzoor
Nida Manzoor is making a name for herself in the world of action movies with her explosive debut feature, Polite Society (in theaters now). Written and directed by Manzoor, the film follows aspiring stunt performer Ria (Priya Kansara) as she puts a plan into motion to stop her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) from ditching her dream of being an artist for married life.
"It came from my love of action movies growing up as a teenager, but never getting to see myself in any of them," explains the British Pakistani creator of her desire to make an action film centered on a South Asian family.
"We don't usually see Muslim women playing music and being funny, and we certainly don't see South Asian teenage girls leading action movies," says Manzoor, who also crafted the 2021 series We Are Lady Parts, a comedy about an all-female Muslim punk band in the U.K. "Creating an action movie around a South Asian teenage girl says this character is important and she belongs in cinema."
With Polite Society, Manzoor also explores teen-girl angst through action — something she'd never seen before, even as a big fan of action flicks. "I wanted to explore the small violences of what it means to be a teenage girl externalized through bombastic fight sequences," she says. "I was excited to get to use a genre that is typically male-dominated to explore womanhood."
Everett Collection Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya in 'Polite Society'
With two unique stories under her belt, Manzoor talked to EW about what inspired her first film and who her biggest influences are as a storyteller.
Jackie Chan
Polite Society is a mix of thrilling action sequences and comedy, so it's no surprise that one of Manzoor's biggest influences is Jackie Chan. "I love watching Jackie Chan movies," shares Manzoor. "As a kid, I thought his mix of comedy and martial arts was something that got me excited about cinema." The director fondly remembers going to see Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour and being blown away by not only how funny it was but that the big-screen comedy starred people of color. The 1998 classic was her gateway to Chan's other work, including Police Story and Drunken Master.
Bollywood
Bollywood spectacles have also had a real impact on Manzoor's work. "I grew up on a very heavy diet of Bollywood movies," she says of the weekly trips she took to the cinema with her mother growing up. One of her favorites is the 2002 film Devdas, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1917 novel about a law graduate who returns to London to marry his childhood friend. "That film stands out because I was so impressed with the filmmaker," she shares. "I feel like we sometimes look down on Bollywood cinema in the West and I remember being so moved by the craft of that film in particular."
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
When Manzoor looks at her Bollywood influences, one person who comes to mind is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The popular actress served as an inspiration for the character of Ria in Polite Society. Rai Bachchan — who has starred in films such as Jeans, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and Devdas — is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and Manzoor admires her body's agility and strength, which also influences Ria's dream to become a stunt performer.
<i>Get Out</i>
Seeing Jordan Peele's game-changing horror flick Get Out — which put Black actors center stage and was infused with social commentary — convinced Manzoor that Polite Society could one day end up on the big screen, too. "I remember feeling the audience respond to [Get Out] and thinking maybe there was a place for my film," she recalls. Peele's use of humor in the 2017 movie also taught Manzoor something very important: "I didn't realize how much you could use comedy to help keep the audience with you."
<i>Kill Bill</i>
Kill Bill is one of the many films to inspire the action sequences in Polite Society. There is a fight that takes place between Ria and her sister Lena, which is gritty and more grounded than some of the other bigger battle scenes in the movie. It take inspiration from the Bourne films and the Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah brawl in Kill Bill. The brutal showdowns, both in Manzoor's debut and Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, leave their surroundings trashed. It's very different from Ria's row with Raheela (Nimra Bucha) near the end of the film. Describing it as "balletic," the battle is more similar to the work of legendary fight choreographer Woo Ping. "I wanted as much wirework as I could in that fight," explains Manzoor. "I wanted to see the actors fly."
British comedy
When it comes to dialogue, Manzoor's inspirations include the work of Edgar Wright, as well as British TV comedies. "Shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder in the U.K. had rhythmic dialogue," she says, "I love the work of filmmaker Edgar Wright and his use of comedy and musicality in his dialogue, but also in the way he constructs scenes and puts them together is really inspiring."
Manzoor also loves American TV shows like Malcolm in the Middle and, specifically, the Coen Brothers' movie The Big Lebowski. The British storyteller encourages her actors to watch the 1998 film, which she calls "impeccable" because of the actors' timing in the film and its musicality.
Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta
Manzoor lists directors Mira Nair (The Namesake) and Deepa Mehta (Elements trilogy) as two people who inspire her, since they feature South Asian women in their projects. "It made me believe that our stories are worth being told," Manzoor says, noting that she also looks up to Pedro Almodóvar. "He centered women in a way that I hadn't experienced before."
<i>Slums of Beverly Hills</i>
Tamara Jenkins' 1998 debut film Slums of Beverly Hills, which is about a teenage girl struggling to grow up in a lower-middle-class nomadic Jewish family that relocates every few months, made Manzoor feel seen as a teenager. "Each of her movies expresses a real truth of womanhood and there's a rawness to her work that I gravitate to," she explains. In addition to Slums of Beverly Hills, Jenkins directed The Savages and Private Life.
Jane Austen
Since Manzoor is focused on telling women-centric tales, it makes sense that Jane Austen's works have always resonated with her. "There's something in the way she explores the pressure of society and being a woman who wants to strike out on her own," she says.
Polite Society is in theaters now.
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