Quite often, a wedding isn’t for the two people up on the altar, but rather, for their families. In certain cultures, particularly India, weddings are of colossal importance, an indication of the health and stature of a family. So, what happens when this generational pressure of upholding old traditions collides with modern sensibilities? You get a joyous, beautiful, and nuanced film like Roshan Sethi’s A Nice Indian Boy, adapted by Eric Randall for the screen from Madhuri Shekar‘s play.
It feels like years since we’ve had a decent, wedding-centered rom-com that is as much about family as it is romance. No film in the past decade has hilariously captured the anxieties of being single and attending repeated weddings like Four Weddings and a Funeral, or the absolute chaos of culture shock marriages between two people from different backgrounds in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. A Nice Indian Boy is the movie we’ve been waiting for. Not only does it call back to these adored classics from the ‘90s and early 2000s, but it’s also a queer love story that blows right past some of the heteronormative love stories that have been dropped on streamers in recent years.Sorry, Billy Eichner, but this is the queer love story everyone wanted.
What Is ‘A Nice Indian Boy’ About?
Naveen (Karan Soni) is as awkward as they come. We meet him first in his early 20s, as he gazes at the hot straight man tearing up the dance floor. They’re at the wedding of Naveen’s sister, Arundhathi (Sunita Mani), and she is everything an Indian daughter should be: beautiful and happy with the doctor husband her mother (Zarna Garg) set her up with. Naveen tells us via voiceover that he wants this for himself too, but, 1. He’s not willing to say it out loud and 2. Due to Indian traditions, he’s not sure how he, a gay man, can have this same celebration of love. Fast-forward six years and Naveen is older, more lonely, and just as awkward.
When he’s at temple, he locks eyes with a white guy, Jay (Jonathan Groff). After they meet again, they start dating, and it’s instantly clear that the two couldn’t be more different. Jay serenades Naveen in broad daylight on the street, proclaims his most intimate thoughts on the first date, and doesn’t appear to have the inhibitions that prevent Jay from saying how he feels. They debate the Bollywood movie they just saw, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and Jay sums up the film’s thesis in one line to defend against Naveed’s dismissal of the movie as overly dramatic: “I think we’re all embarrassed by the bigness of love.” What they do have in common, though, is that they were both raised by Indian parents. Again, Jay is white (Glee’s Jonathan Groff white) but was adopted after years in the foster system by Indian parents who have since passed. As the two fall in love and Jay is champing at the bit to meet Naveen’s family, Naveen has to confront years of repressed emotions and unsaid truths within his family.
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A Nice Indian Boy plays in the same sentimental but grounded way as The Big Sick. But where The Big Sick deviates into Emily’s illness, A Nice Indian Boy focuses on the trials and tribulations of being in an interracial relationship. At the center is Naveen who, for most of the runtime, looks like he’s going to actually choke on his words and die — and you almost think it’ll put him out of his misery. It can sometimes be too uncomfortable to watch, but then you’re rewarded by the way he melts into Jay’s eyes. Like all great rom-coms, at the core of the comedy, chaos, and ensemble cast is the love between two people; if the movie can’t sell that, everything else falls apart. Naveen and Jay’s love works because both the script and the performers are careful to make sure it feels larger than life while making it as realistic as possible. Who knew an awkward brunch in an overpriced loft could become the setting for a grand romantic gesture? There are moments when Naveen can’t say how he feels, but when he and Jay lock eyes, everything becomes clear. A small world opens up between them, impervious to the many distractions that life throws their way.
‘A Nice Indian Boy’ Is a Joyous Celebration of Love and Family
While A Nice Indian Boy is specific to Indian culture, it also excels at unveiling the most uncomfortable parts of the human experience that are so painstaking familiar. While Hallmark and Netflix original rom-coms adore a perfect meet-cute with fireworks shooting across an idyllic first date, Naveen and Jay’s first drink together is pretty awkward. Their bar conversation is intercut with Naveen complaining about Jay’s overenthusiasm and embarrassing behavior to his colleague and friend Paul (Peter S. Kim) the next day, a post-date debrief that almost everyone has had. But still, it doesn’t take away from the obvious chemistry between them, even when Naveen rebuffs Jay’s kiss. It’s a sweet, uncomfortable, awkward, and borderline cringeworthy first date, but you do not doubt that the two are made for each other. It’s a modern, grounded play on the “Odd Couple” trope that perfectly sets the ground for the world that Naveen must decide whether he wants to pull Jay into.
There’s a common ground between the classic rom-coms I mentioned earlier and A Nice Indian Boy: A brilliant supporting cast. What A Nice Indian Boy refreshingly shows is that weddings and relationships, whether we like it or not, are not confined to two people. Just when Jay and Naveen come to terms with the love they’ve found in each other, it’s all upended by Naveen’s family. Despite a laugh-out-loud phone conversation between Naveen and his mother in which she explains the entire plot of Milk (hilariously telling him that it was Thanos who shot Harvey Milk), the family members are not reduced to simple, gag-heavy tropes.
A Nice Indian Boy doesn’t bypass the struggles it takes to get to the altar or to find true love. Where most movies would usually end, A Nice Indian Boy shifts focus and allows a multitude of different perspectives. Why are Naveen’s parents the way they are? What has happened in their lives to make them so attached to tradition? While Naveen’s sister appears to be the exemplary Indian daughter, the truth is far from that. Eric Randall’s script does an immaculate job of pacing, as just when you think the film might end, you get an insight into a whole new part of the story that you didn’t realize existed. A Nice Indian Boy isn’t just a celebration of romantic love, but of culture, generations, and above all, family. It also is content to acquiesce to the fact that families will never be perfect.
‘A Nice Indian Boy’ Has an Ensemble of Terrific Performances
Karan Soni feels like he was born to play Naveen. It’s a meticulous balancing act to play someone who is so engulfed by anxiety but is yearning to live life freely and unapologetically. The first date could’ve appeared devoid of any chemistry due to Naveen’s clear discomfort, but it’s Soni’s exceptional acting that allows just the right amount of infatuation to shine through. Jonathan Groff is as charming as ever, playing Jay as the confident, open mushball with a fragile core due to considerable trauma. The two of them are lifted by a spectacular cast. Peter S. Kim is hilarious as Naveen’s best friend who acts as the tie to modern gay culture, telling Naveen to ask his mother whether she’s seen Bros. Sunita Mani as Naveen’s acerbic, indignant sister brings a whole new layer to the conversation, displaying the enormous pressure modern women are placed under in these cultures with patriarchal traditions.
Zarna Garg as Naveen’s mother is the beating heart of the entire movie, solidified by a speech at the end that will pull on any heartstrings. The oppressive, controlling parent is rarely given this much grace and understanding, and that extends to Naveen’s father. While the first half may not have you think that Harish Patel has his work cut out for him, it’s his character arc in the third act that ends the movie on such an emotional note. Ensemble rom-coms allow a variety of different perspectives to converge, and the script and cast of A Nice Indian Boy perform a masterful juggling of perspectives, cultures, and generations.
A Nice Indian Boy is the type of movie you can recommend to your stuffy colleague, your emotionally repressed dad, or the film bro whose rom-com knowledge starts and ends at Punch-Drunk Love. It’s a crowdpleaser that will plaster a smile on your face from beginning to end with a high chance of some tears. Just when it teeters on overly saccharine territory, its hilarious script and earnest performances dial it back. It’s a celebration of the most important things in life; love and family. What is probably most enchanting about the whole experience is that it’s perfectly aware of how everyday people reject these grandiose declarations of love and feelings — the characters in the scene are just as allergic to it as most audiences are. So, it finds a way to discuss these in a digestible way for even the most heartless of curmudgeons. Yes, even you.
A funny, soulful, and sweet story of love, culture, and family, and the explosive feelings that come about when they collide.
- The script does a great job of balancing romance and family, interweaving the two to form a story that covers all relationships.
- Karan Soni leads an extraordinary cast, every performer hitting all the right comedic and dramatic beats.
- While the movie is specific to Indian culture, it’s full of embarrassing, endearing, and awkward moments that will resonate with all viewers.
A Nice Indian Boy screened at the 2024 London Film Festival after its premiere at this year’s SXSW.
