From Melbourne to Hollywood: Parvyn’s Music Makes It to the Polite Society.
Melbourne, Sydney – The Australian South Asian Centre was invited to attend the special preview of Polite Society, a masterpiece action comedy film by director Nida Manzoor and starring Ritu Arya and Priya Kansara. The preview was hosted by Universal Pictures Australia.
Polite Society tells the story of Ria Khan (Priya Kansara), a British Pakistani woman who must save her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) from marrying for the wrong reasons to a questionable suitor. The movie celebrates brown women’s rage and breaks down stereotypes of Muslim South Asian women.
As the two protagonists, Ritu Arya and Priya Kansara put on a stellar performance, bringing the story to life with their talent and charm.
The exclusive preview was a resounding success, and members of the Australian South Asian Centre were thrilled to be part of such an exciting event. We sat down with our member Parvyn to learn more about how her music came to be part of the film.
Daizy: How did it feel to see your music as part of polite society?
Parvyn: The Bombay Royale music was always intended as ‘filmy’ music as we were a band inspired by vintage Bollywood soundtracks. Having it in an international BIG screen film of this calibre feels like a fitting place for it. Personally it made me feel incredibly proud of the music we’ve made and having other creatives on the other side of the world seeing it as having value enough to add to their work feels incredibly validating. It was also a bit of a shock because my record label hadn’t fully informed me that it was confirmed placement. A great surprise for my voice to be recognised by friends at a preview of the film in Melbourne. For them and for me.
Daizy: How did this come about?
Parvyn: A fellow artist in Canada who had visited Melbourne several years ago and had actually supported The Bombay Royale at a show we did at the Northcote Social Club, connected us to this opportunity through his label Snakes x Ladders that does great work representing South Asian music in North America.
Daizy: Tell us more about the song / band / album.
Parvyn: There are two songs they use in the film both from our debut album ‘You, Me, Bullets, Love‘. When we released it in 2012 it went straight to number 1 on the iTunes world music charts (which was kind of a big deal back then compared to now with the shift to Spotify). Check out our film clip of that title track on youtube and it’ll give you a good idea of why I think the placement of it in the opening credits of the film is so perfect. It’s got that old school spy, martial arts, fight scene vibe to it. The other song they used is Monkey Fight Snake which is the first track off the album and one we often played at the start of our live shows. It was always such a banger to play live and I’m glad it’s being heard again.
Daizy: You’ve been an early supporter of the Australian South Asian Centre, what does it mean to be part of this community?
Parvyn: I love being part of the ASAC community. I feel supported and encouraged to be my best self here, surrounded by like-minded people who have similar experiences in navigating life living in Australia but being from a strong South Asian cultural tradition. I think we are all striving for making our world a better place and connecting authentically to each other, while seeking recognition of the value we have in the wider Australian community.
About Parvyn: Parvyn is an ARIA nominated Punjabi-Australian singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. Best known for her work in band The Bombay Royale, and performing globally since childhood with her father Dya Singh, Parvyn’s current solo project represents a new step in her career and is informed by pop, soul and jazz, her background in Sikh devotional music and her training in Indian classical music and dance.
Her debut solo record ‘Sa’, released Sep 2021, heralded as an ‘multigenre, multicultural, masterpiece’ – by The Australian, was nominated for ARIA ‘Best World Music’ album of the year, the prestigious Australian Music Prize and Best Independent Soul/RnB album at the Aus Indies.The album draws from a broad palette of styles and moods from garage-esque bounce to 808 bass, layered loops and virtuosic vocal improvisations. With influences from Bjork to Anoushka Shankar, Parvyn’s music is immersed in a reflective world of different cultures and perspectives. Parvyn is also an advocate for mental health and wellbeing, she recently shared her journey with bipolar and how it has influenced her music. You can listen to that podcast over on ABC.
You can find Parvyn over on Instagram here.
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Manisha Massey is a PhD Clinical Psychology Candidate from New Delhi, currently residing in Adelaide. Her professional focus is mainly to understand how childhood trauma presents in the bodies and relationships of adult South Asian Women, with the aim of decolonising trauma therapy.
