Review: Nothing Quite Like “A Nice Indian Boy”

Hannah Smith ’26

Executive Entertainment Editor

The latest film to be shown at Cinestudio is Roshan Sethi’s “A Nice Indian Boy” starring Karan Soni (“Deadpool,” “Spiderman: Beyond the Spiderverse”) and Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,” “Frozen”). While Sethi’s filmography is limited, having only two other director credits to his name, his obvious talent shines bright in this film. His emphasis on realistic love and wavering family dynamics as well as his use of vibrant color and Bollywood-esque music create a particular style for Sethi as a director; it reflects a respect and admiration for classic Indian cinema while simultaneously modernizing it for a broader, primarily American audience.

Soni plays the leading man, a doctor named Naveen Gavaskar, who falls in love with Groff’s character, a freelance photographer named Jay Kurundkar. Jay was adopted into an Indian family, and while his fair complexion doesn’t reflect it, he identifies with the Indian culture of his found family. Naveen’s family isn’t necessarily upset with the fact that he is gay; what they do have an issue with is the fact that he has fallen in love with a white man. “A Nice Indian Boy” is filled with great acting performances, especially from Soni. He portrays a lonely and conflicted man turned hopeless romantic after meeting the love of his life. He is flawed and he doesn’t try to hide it from the viewer or those around him. We’ve all met someone like Naveen, and Soni plays him perfectly. In my opinion, I don’t think we got enough singing from Groff, but it’s never enough. Don’t worry though, he does sing a few times!

What stood out most to me is the realism of the film. Being so heavily inspired by Bollywood, it would be easy to exaggerate the love life of Naveen and Jay. Naveen’s father could have banished Jay from the house like the father in “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” a film mentioned countless times in the film, referenced as Jay’s favorite movie of all time. Instead, the couple goes through their struggles; Naveen doesn’t immediately fall head over heels for Jay, they fight over their differences, and Jay isn’t accepted by Naveen’s family. This isn’t a fairytale and it’s not portrayed as such. Additionally, the family dynamics are just as realistic. Naveen bickers with his sister after she sabotages his love life, he feels like a disappointment to his father and even goes as far as to tell him he doesn’t have to come to his wedding in a moment of weakness, and his mother fears she’ll never see her son again, so she treats him like the perfect angel so she doesn’t lose her only son. So many people have experienced things like this. Real life is reflected on the screen and Sethi isn’t hiding from it.

“A Nice Indian Boy” is an incredibly sweet story that emphasizes the realness of love between  two men, one coming from a very traditional Indian family while the other isn’t the perfect image of what the family had always imagined for their son. One line that stuck out to me came from Jay. On their first date, he accuses Naveen of being “embarrassed by the bigness of love.” The bigness of love perfectly describes this film: love will prevail and that’s all that matters.