‘A Nice Indian Boy’ review: East-meets-West with a twist in an instant rom-com classic

An incisive expression of household and tradition that neither apologizes nor over-explains itself, Roshan Sethi’s A Good Indian Boy is a riotous, transferring queer romantic comedy with a wildly distinctive premise. Whereas it resembles many fashionable third-culture tales — particularly, tales of disconnect between first-generation South Asians within the West and their immigrant mother and father — it widens its scope in stunning ways in which mirror and refract each private and cinematic id.

Taking inspiration from a romantic Bollywood traditional, the movie follows a homosexual Indian American physician whose mother and father are nominally accepting, however who need him to search out “a pleasant Indian boy.” Lengthy story quick: He does! The quick wrinkle, nonetheless, is that this good Indian boy is none aside from Jonathan Groff — sure, Hamilton‘s authentic King George — enjoying a white man raised by Indian mother and father. 

On one hand, A Good Indian Boy is the story of a typical Indian American household, with typical Indian American issues — a generational disconnect, gendered double requirements, and a tradition of awkward silence round sexuality — however alternatively, its evolution into grand romantic saga is something however typical. It is also a narrative of cross-cultural adoption that dovetails into not solely a hilariously awkward meet-the-parents comedy, but additionally a movie about liberating oneself from emotional and generational baggage, in a means that yields tears of pleasure and laughter.

What’s A Good Indian Boy about?

Dr. Naveen Gavaskar (Deadpool‘s Karan Soni) is the type of real looking queer protagonist seldom seen in Hollywood: an introverted homosexual man who’d reasonably be at house than on the membership — or within the case of the film’s opening scene, at his sister’s colourful wedding ceremony reception. Because the friends dance to thumping tunes, and the digicam tilts and spins to seize them, Naveen sits nonetheless, warding off over-enthusiastic relations whose phrases of marital encouragement sound extra like a dire warning: “You are subsequent!”

What Naveen’s nosy aunties and uncles do not know, and what his mother and father begrudgingly settle for, is that his wedding ceremony will not fairly appear like a Hindi film, since he occurs to be into guys.

Six years go by — notably, the period of time between Sethi popping out and the movie’s premiere — and Naveen’s life away from his mother and father is considerably content material, although it includes lonely nights of leaving exes and crushes some uncomfortably awkward voice messages. He has completely no sport, regardless of the efforts of his outgoing homosexual colleague Paul (Peter S. Kim) to convey him out of his shell. However the gods finally smile on him when he comes throughout a sexy white photographer, Jay Kurundkar (Groff), at his native mandir (or temple) whereas praying to a statue of Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of knowledge and good luck.

Two issues instantly stand out about Jay: his tranquil allure, and his genuine pronunciation of “Ganesh” — with an prolonged “e” as in “lace,” reasonably than the protracted “e” of phrases like “much less,” to which most Westerners default. Naveen is instantly flustered by Jay’s assured stares, however agrees to accompany him on a date to his favourite film, which, to the nice physician’s shock, seems to be Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (or DDLJ), the long-lasting 1995 Bollywood romance about two star-crossed Indian Londoners, whose musical centerpiece options celebrity Shah Rukh Khan serenading actress Kajol in a area of yellow mustard flowers.

However as an alternative of being greatly surprised by this gesture, Naveen finds himself unable to totally embrace the movie or Jay’s off-key crooning of its well-known monitor, “Tujhe Dekha To” (sure, Groff sings it himself, with barely a syllable misplaced). Sincerity and vulnerability stay obstacles to Naveen, even after he and Jay begin courting. This proves mildly problematic when assembly one another’s mates, but it surely’s downright disastrous when the query of Jay assembly Naveen’s mother and father arises, given how little he is informed them about his white, freelance photographer boyfriend who vapes and waxes poetic about Hindi cinema.

The outcomes are as side-splitting as they’re disheartening, as a result of the one lesson A Good Indian Boy takes from DDLJ is that Indian romantic movies are household dramas too. Nonetheless, what initially appears hopeless finally ends up an thrilling problem, as a result of Jay has additionally internalized this lesson. And, like Shah Rukh Khan’s brash Raj Malhotra, he’ll cease at nothing to win over the mother and father of the individual he loves.

A Good Indian Boy can be a household drama.

The movie, written by Eric Randall, is predicated on the play by Madhuri Shekar, and it has the construction of a five-act play, with every part damaged up by important time jumps. This finally ends up serving a twin objective. On one hand, this shifts the standard feel-good rom-com climax to the center of the story, away from its normal place in most three-act Hollywood screenplays, the place it serves as a decision. Within the course of, A Good Indian Boy permits for the realities of long-term romance and wedding ceremony planning to creep in by way of the corners of the body, past the broad declarations of affection.

However, it additionally permits every member of Naveen’s household to have their very own devoted part of the film, throughout which they turn out to be a main character. Like Naveen, his sister Arundhathi (Sunita Mani) harbors a grudge in opposition to their mother and father for the alternatives she did and did not have whereas rising up, together with in issues of affection, and she or he sees their elevated leeway with Naveen as a matter of grave injustice. In the meantime, their outspoken mom Megha (Zarna Garg) tries to easy issues over with each youngsters, however since she’s simply as hot-headed as her daughter, it is simpler stated than completed. By way of temperament, Naveen takes after his father Archit (Harish Patel), although his silent acceptance of Naveen’s sexuality — whereas avoiding eye contact in any respect value — hurts greater than outright disapproval. Like his son, Archit has an issue with expressing himself truthfully.

Nonetheless, Megha and Archit’s real makes an attempt to bridge the hole between themselves and Naveen additionally results in some uproarious overcompensation, between the subjects they bring about up in Jay’s presence with none filter in any way, to their honest makes an attempt to coach themselves by binging raunchy actuality exhibits on OutTV and bringing them up in dialog. It is extremely humorous and extremely candy, however none of those superficial gestures — irrespective of how well-meaning — are an alternative choice to the true emotional work the Gavaskar household wants.

The movie would not let Naveen off the hook both, whether or not it involves his avoidance of intimacy or the partitions he retains up between him and his relations. These partitions solely begin to come down after some rigorous and troublesome dramatic moments, which Sethi directs with unbelievable command.

A Good Indian Boy is brilliantly directed.  

The movie’s premise resembles numerous third-culture movies and exhibits that includes South Asians within the West, like The Large Sick, Ms. Marvel, and Blinded by the Mild. These tales of artistically pushed first-gen youngsters and their immigrant mother and father who “simply do not perceive” have settled right into a rote rhythm in recent times. A fellow SXSW choice, the lukewarm The Queen of My Desires, is a key instance: a equally Bollywood-inspired story of a queer Pakistani Canadian who nominally reconciles along with her conservative mom. It is hardly ever a superb signal when you may map out the beats of a narrative primarily based on its cultural premise, however A Good Indian Boy finds quite a few visible and thematic methods to buck that pattern.

It stands out, before everything, by way of its bustling visible power, which not solely captures the chaos and pleasure continuously unfolding round Naveen — at weddings, household conferences, or events hosted by Jay’s outgoing mates — but additionally serves to enlarge his glum stillness because the digicam pushes in and pulls out prominently throughout each comedy beats and charged emotional moments. The movie’s comedy and drama stem from the identical place: the stress of expectations, whether or not it includes Naveen wrestling along with his prescribed position as an Indian man within the West; the implications of his queerness, based on his mother and father; or how Jay will match into the Gavaskars’ household dynamic.

What Jay yearns for, as a perpetual outsider who discovered love in an Indian family as soon as earlier than, is simply as important to the film as Naveen’s seek for emotional authenticity. And when the movie begins drawing extra overtly from Bollywood iconography, it weaves collectively its grandiose romance from each their views. To Jay, Hindi cinema is the final word expression of affection and acceptance. To Naveen, it is a tacky façade. The reality, it seems, might lie someplace in between, with Sethi presenting the story’s key turning factors as stylistic handshakes between formal grandeur and naturalistic, self-aware comedy, with out compromising both character’s standpoint. The film’s sweeping declarations are as daring and unapologetic as they’re goofy and foolish, so that they find yourself operating the emotional gamut.

Not often has a rom-com been this concurrently hysterical and touching, although regardless of its boisterous tone, its greatest power might very effectively be its silent moments. The daddy-son pairing of Naveen and Archit have a tendency to search out solace in silence, and that is not prone to change anytime quickly. So, as a way to draw them out of their consolation zones, A Good Indian Boy turns into a movie about gestures each huge and small. Its most heartrending moments arrive within the type of these two males — separated by generational disconnect, however certain by widespread cultural expectations — adapting to different folks’s modes of expression within the small methods they’re in a position to. Over the course of the movie, they be taught to talk different folks’s love languages, resulting in rousing, overwhelming moments (a few of them in pleasant musical type). 

In a simply world, A Good Indian Boy would discover on the spot distribution and be hailed alongside Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding ceremony as a sensible household portrait whose jagged edges aren’t simply riveting, however revelatory. It is as candy and humorous as they arrive, and the type of crowd-pleaser destined to go away your coronary heart feeling full.

A Good Indian Boy is presently looking for distribution.

UPDATE: Sep. 25, 2024, 5:01 p.m. EDT A Good Indian Boy was reviewed out of its World Premiere at SXSW 2024 on March 23, 2024. This submit has been up to date to notice its East Coast Premiere at NewFest, the place it was the opening evening movie.