Released: 4th April
Seen: 2nd November
It seems so long ago now, but it was only 7 years ago back in 2018 when a little film called Love, Simon came out. A film that took the standard story of the teenage romcom and did a gay twist on the formula, which made it feel special. It feels like that let people in the industry know that they could actually make gay films with some mainstream appeal, which has led to a few really nice, simple and enjoyable films that have been accessible to more than just a queer audience. It’s a sad truth that films featuring queer people in general tend to just be relegated to underground films, if we even get to be part of them (Do not give me the whole “Oh gays are in everything” crap, I literally have a spreadsheet that will prove you wrong). So it’s really nice to see that we get to have a gay version of the “Person invites their new partner to meet their family” genre, especially one that’s as downright heartwarming and charming as A Nice Indian Boy.
A Nice Indian Boy focuses on the adorably shy doctor Naveen (Karan Soni) who tries to navigate the world in a way that he feels will honour his parents and, in general, not make too many waves. However, upon meeting artist Jay (Jonathan Groff) at a temple, he can’t help but be completely enamoured with the man, who turns out to be an orphan who was adopted by Indian parents and grew up within the culture. The relationship soon becomes serious enough that Naveen introduces Jay to his family, the doting mother Megha (Zarna Garg), stoic father Archit (Harish Patel) and older sister Arundhathi (Sunita Mani) and it goes about as well as these meetings tend to go in romantic comedies. Naturally, there is tension, a couple of arguments and a lot of heightened emotion, all creating a romance story that’s as real as it is hilarious and touching.
One of the great things about A Nice Indian Boy is that it’s really not trying to break the mould that much. Its structure has a lot in common with things like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where a lot of the tension and comedy comes from the culture shock, where we get introduced to all these elements of a culture that doesn’t get as much representation as it should. It has a lot of the classic beats that come with the genre, but the added element of a gay main couple does make somewhat of a difference in how those beats land. There’s this comforting sense of familiarity that really helps the film because when it does actually have to do something kind of daring, we’re already so at ease that it makes those moments slip by so much easier.
The main word that would describe A Nice Indian Boy is charming, that’s what it practically lives and dies on, and it has so much of it in every single frame that it’s really hard to do anything other than love the whole thing. Every character in this film feels real, like they have a long history we’ve not been able to see. No one is made into a cheesy stereotype for the purposes of a laugh; you feel like you could get to know these people and that we’re just being let into a real part of their lives. There are so many cute little details that just feel honest, like the parents watching a lot of OutTV in a desperate attempt to understand their gay son or the older sister trying to deal with her own marital issues away from the family because she doesn’t want to have broken with tradition. These little things make the characters feel more real and make them that much funnier.
It’s also just helpful that the cast itself is charming as hell, it’s hard not to just completely love the adorkableness of Karan Soni or the motherly love that exudes from every single pore of Sunita Mani (who steals the entire damn film without even trying). Even though he doesn’t get much to say, you can feel Harish Patel just barely holding back all the time and the moments he does open up mean the world. Sunita Mani is just a comedic gift to the movie and manages to elevate every joke she’s been handed with nothing more than a look, honestly she should just be given her own sitcom because she would absolutely kill it. Then there’s Jonathan Groff who… is Jonathan Groff, if you don’t find him charming then the problem is you. This entire cast is fantastic, they bounce off each other so well that I will take 15 more films of them as a family just going on adventures, someone make that happen.
Of course, that’s not to say everything is perfect; the downside to being just a gay twist on classic formulas is that it’s kind of hard to really be surprised by anything that happens. It is entirely predictable, you can almost call what’s going to happen several minutes before the film even hints it’s heading in the direction you expect it to go in. This film knows that the one thing that sets it apart is that the main characters are gay and it leans into that being enough, on some level it is but structurally it makes no change. That lack of offering something truly new does kind of hold it back just a hair but that’s me nitpicking (hi, this is a review, we nitpick things)
On the whole, A Nice Indian Boy is a charming romantic comedy that gives a perspective on the genre that we just do not get to see as much as we probably should. It’s sweet, funny and accessible to such a wide audience that it feels like the kind of film that could change hearts and minds while also entertaining them. It’s downright wholesome with a big enough heart that cannot be denied. It’s a kind of film that hopefully will become a huge mainstream hit, it deserves nothing less.
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