Based on Madhuri Shekar’s 2014 play, A Nice Indian Boy follows Naveen Gavaskar (Karan Soni), who has been in the queue for the next Indian wedding for years. But while his perfect sister, Arundhati (Sunita Mani), has made their parents proud by marrying a nice Indian boy, Naveen isn’t quite sure what his future wedding might look like. Because despite his family knowing about Naveen being gay, how would they react if he were to bring home a nice Indian boy instead of a girl?
Enter Jay Kurundkar (Jonathan Groff), a white orphaned artist, with a tendency to vape when he’s anxious. Naveen and Jay don’t have the best of starts to their relationship but they can’t deny the sparks between them. Following some ups and downs and a lot of soul-searching, Naveen is set to have his big Indian wedding. With all the family drama that comes along with it.
Watching the premiere of A Nice Indian Boy with a mixed Toronto audience has changed my mind about the genre. I laughed so hard, I was doubled over in my chair. I cried in unison with my seatmates. I concluded the film by clapping so hard, my hands hurt. During the post-premiere virtual Q&A, the audience was applauding and whooping so loudly, we drowned out some of the answers from director Roshan Sethi and star Karan Soni, who many of us learned are a real-life couple. That relationship, their own experiences with coming out to their Indian parents, and their parents’ experiences with arranged marriages informed much of the family dynamics in the film. There was a level of authenticity that came from their lived experiences which made this film relatable to audiences, whether they were from India or elsewhere.
What stood out to me about A Nice Indian Boy was how it dealt with the entire Gavaskar family. Yes, Naveen is at the center of it all, and his relationship with Jay drives the narrative. But there’s also Arundhati, the daughter of the family who’s trying to do right by her parents but realises she can’t sacrifice passion for duty. Arundhati is a complicated character and not the most likeable—a lot of the audience spent the film yelling at the screen when she appeared—but I understand where Arundhati is coming from. There’s immense pressure on Indian women, even now, to be the perfect daughters and do as their families’ want, their own needs and wants be damned. Seeing Arundhati stand up for herself will probably feel cathartic for a lot of women, even if she does nearly destroy poor Naveen’s happiness in the process.
The way A Nice Indian Boy ensures the Gavaskar parents are multi-dimensional characters who can voice their own hopes, desires, and fears for their children, elevated the whole story. Megha (Zarna Garg) and Archit (Harish Patel) are complete opposites—Megha seems not to know when to stop talking, and Archit never even starts. They’re the quintessential Indian parents, keeping their deepest fears to themselves, which leaves their children believing their parents are closed off. Megha and Archit’s story and the way they slowly learn to open up was deeply affecting. Archit being the one to welcome Jay into the Gavaskar family fold was so heart-warming, I’m tearing up just remembering it.
Karan Soni may have played the lovable goof Dopinder in the Deadpool films, but he’s all heart here. His Naveen is a darling of the protagonist—a lost cause who’s relatable because he’s barely trying but hoping for the best. Jay practically falls into his lap for this relationship to even happen. Otherwise, Naveen would have died alone, I’m sure of it. Soni’s effortless chemistry with Groff makes the central romance a success, but his familial chemistry with Mani, Garg, and Patel ensures the Gavaskar family is believable and easy to root for.
I’ll admit, when I saw Groff was playing the love interest in this film, I wondered how it would work. Having just seen Picture This, where the central romance was torpedoed by a poor performance by Hero Fiennes Tiffin, I was worried how Groff would hold up amongst the Indian-American cast. I’m happy to say that Groff is the perfect cog in the A Nice Indian Boy wheel. He’s got the chemistry with Soni down pat, but he’s clearly done his homework to play a character who is enmeshed in Indian culture. Watching Groff sing ‘Tujhe dekha’ in nigh-perfect Hindi cemented my love for this film. His pronunciation was flawless; his commitment was off the charts. Had Groff not given his all, this film would not have been as enjoyable as it turned out to be.
A central theme of A Nice Indian Boy, the play and the film, is the central couple’s love for one of the biggest Bollywood films of all time, 1995’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, or DDLJ, as everyone in India calls it. During the Q&A, director Sethi shared how the team had reached out to DDLJ’s director Aditya Chopra asking for the rights to the film and song. Chopra has long resisted giving the rights to his film to anyone, but he gave them to Sethi for a fraction of what it should have cost. Kudos to Chopra for recognising the importance of including homages to his film in A Nice Indian Boy. Without the DDLJ references, both in the visuals and the music, this film may not have had the impact it did.
Whether you love rom-coms or are looking for a feel-good film that’ll make you think, A Nice Indian Boy is exactly what we need in the midst of all the chaos in the world. What a joyous celebration of love, family, and the enduring romance of cinema.
A Nice Indian Boy is now playing in theaters.