Ria and Lena in Polite Society

INTERVIEW: Ritu Arya and Priya Kansara on Bringing Sisterhood to Life in ‘Polite Society’

Polite Society hit theaters and took audiences by storm. Telling the tale of Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) and her dreams of being a stunt woman, we get to see the heightened reality of Ria’s life when she ends up having to fight the evil’s of the world to try and protect her sister Lena (Ritu Arya). While Ria’s imagination often gets the best of her, the movie is at its heart about believing in yourself and trusting that you have the love and support from those around you who also believe in your vision.

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For Ria, that was her sister and both Arya and Kansara bring to life the dynamic of these sisters in such a way that you’re wrapped up in their story and want them to succeed in everything they chose to do. Which is all attributed to their performances. It’s fantastical, fun, and badass. And I was lucky enough to speak with both Arya and Kansara about the film!

Prior to its release, the Mary Sue did the junket for the film where I asked both of them about building that relationship and Arya spoke about how the two felt that sisterly bond just together on set. “I think that we found it, that part actually the easiest, you know?,” Arya said. “Because we didn’t have to work too hard at being sisters. We just felt like sisters. And then as we worked with each other more and more, we’d just get closer and closer. I think like any relationship, siblings or friends, you kind of learn your own language and you have your own humor. And also like Priya’s really like weird and I think I love that about her. And we’d just be messing around on set and we had our own sort of weird in jokes and dances and songs and I guess that comes through. But we didn’t think too much about it, I don’t think.”

You can see our full chat here:

Polite Society is in theaters now!

(Featured image: Saima Khalid/Focus Features)


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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.