Film Recommendation: “A Nice Indian Boy” is Friggin’ Adorable

One of romcoms tropiest tropes is the clash of cultures. Whether it’s city gal meets country boy, the prince hooking up with the baker, or a person from the past falling for the person who is from now, the story relies on the soft humor of two people learning to see past stereotypes.

So, when I saw the trailer for A Nice Indian Boy, I figured that was going to be the core of this queer romance. Karan Soni plays Naveen, a young Indian doctor who is looking for love but is nervous about the situation, partly because he’s gay. Jonathan Groff plays Jay, a photographer who meets Naveen while taking his photo for the hospital and asks him out.

A perfect set up for culture clash hijinks, yes? Well, yes and no. See, Jay was adopted by an Indian couple and so is much more familiar with the customs and traditions of the country than you think.

Instead, the humor ends up being what happens when Naveen—finally getting up the courage to start talking marriage—takes Jay to meet his family and then the ensuing planning of the wedding.

Groff’s comedic timing is amazing: their first date is the Bollywood classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Jay’s idea, as the movie reminds him of his father). While explaining afterwards why he loves the movie so much, he bursts into one of the songs right there on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, Soni is perfectly cast as the shy gay Indian man who is—at the end of the day—just looking for someone to love him. Their chemistry is amazing: you can genuinely believe these two love each other.

So, while yes, there is some comedy gold with the concept of Jay being white and getting married to an Indian, the humor actually comes from the parents not quite sure how to approach the situation. Zarna Garg, who plays Naveen’s mother Megha, and Harish Patel, who plays the father Archit, steal almost every scene they are in. Megha is terrified to do something wrong while planning this gay wedding, while Archit is dedicated to showing absolutely no emotion during the entire situation—positive or negative. Add in Naveen’s sister, Arundhathi (Sunita Mani), who on the surface seems to be in a perfect relationship, and the clash is less about Indian vs. white and more gay vs. straight.

The script, written by Eric Randall and based on the play by Madhuri Shekar, is clever, funny, and heartwarming all at once. It is an incredibly sweet story of love and acceptance as Naveen’s parents slowly learn to welcome Jay’s existence in their life, and Naveen in turn embraces his parents as who they are. Director Roshan Sethi does a great job of balancing the themes, making sure the plot moves quickly enough to stay entertaining but slow enough for the audience to appreciate it.

It’s a new take on a classic story: it’s not about culture clash, but about two people falling in love and learning the deeper parts of each other, both bad and good. It’s a breath of fresh air in this hellscape of a world. If you like romcoms, queer romance, or both, run—don’t walk—to your nearest Hulu provider, and stream A Nice Indian Boy. It, like our two leads, definitely needs more love.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others. She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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