‘A Nice Indian Boy’ Serves Big Laughs and Even Bigger Heart

Based on a play, A Nice Indian Boy, directed by Roshan Sethi, resists easy categorisation. Yes, it’s a gay rom-com with a primarily South Asian cast. But at its core, as Sethi intended, it’s simply a good, entertaining watch.

With a fabulous title, it’s the kind of story you can enjoy with your family, a rarity in today’s cinematic landscape.

‘A Nice Indian Boy’ is a tender antidote to cultural turmoil

In a time when the U.S. is swinging toward conservatism and LGBTQIA+ rom-coms feel like a relic, A Nice Indian Boy stands out as a rare gem. While Sethi may resist labels, the love story’s cultural and emotional impact deeply resonates.

The plot follows Naveen (Karan Soni), an Indian-American doctor who introduces his fiancé, Jay (Jonathan Groff), a white man adopted by Indian parents, to his traditional family.

What unfolds is familiar yet refreshing: A tender, dramatic story in humorous chapters—from Naveen and Jay’s relationship, to their meeting the family, to Naveen’s own journey toward love and acceptance.

It hits all the familiar rom-com beats, but Sethi’s direction avoids formulaic territory and overly saccharine cliches. It comes across as alive and sincere. Perhaps because it’s infused with the lived experience of the dynamic Sethi and Soni and a groundedness that feels earned.

A Nice Indian Boy is funny, heartwarming, and peppered with laugh-out-loud moments with some more niche—NRI (Non-Resident Indian) and millennial-coded humour—which isn’t always perfect but effective for a wide audience.

The Asian audience, however, will especially appreciate the more nuanced cultural jokes that land well.

Soni and Groff spark with electrifying chemistry

Soni is pitch-perfect as Naveen and painfully relatable in his essence: a generation fumbling through modern love. He maintains an authentic balance of anxious and deadpan, suppressed yet quietly yearning.

His arc, from reluctant to radiant as he allows himself to feel and express “the bigness” of love, is one of the film’s most organic and heartfelt payoffs.

Groff, in contrast, is basically ripped out of a Bollywood blockbuster: a big, unabashed, deeply feeling hero who helps Naveen shed his embarrassment around love.

He’s charming, suave, and emotionally present, and their chemistry crackles from the moment they first exchange glances. You’re not just rooting for them, you’re with them.

 

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For LGBTQI+ communities, particularly those from emotionally reserved cultures, there’s something profound and immensely gratifying in watching Naveen, who was presumably raised on big Indian movies, finally get his “Big Gay Indian Wedding.”

But A Nice Indian Boy isn’t just about the couple, at least for the latter half. The film is a love letter to culture and family—messy, complicated, fiercely loving—exploring generational tensions with nuance. It subverts tired tropes of “the family as antagonists.”

Instead of caricatures, Naveen’s parents and sister are layered, learning, and teaching their own lessons about love and acceptance.

A vibrant ensemble in which every character matters

Sethi gives his ensemble room to shine as the actors give it their all. Each character brings colour and depth while getting their own moment as well as contributing to Naveen and Jay’s journey in meaningful ways rather than distracting from it.

Zarna Garg, in her feature debut, is an absolute scene stealer as Naveen’s mother. While witty and scolding, underneath her effortless comedic timing lies a tenderness that makes her performance linger.

Harish Patel as Naveen’s father, who struggles to communicate, delivers a surprisingly resonant turn playing a man of few words whose stoicism gives way to a quiet emotional power. He speaks volumes in small gestures and lands a tender moment with Groff’s Jay in the third act that will make you audibly “aww.”

Visually, the film dazzles. Amy Vincent’s cinematography seamlessly captures the contrast between Naveen’s clinical life and the vivid, Bollywood-inspired palette of his emotional awakening. It’s a rare visual treat in a new era of muted films.

The sound design adds a subtle magic too, with a recurring motif of bells, evoking love upon sight, culminating in a finale that improbably brings tears even as Tesher’s hit “Jalebi Baby” plays.

Despite its sincerity and otherwise charming package, the film isn’t without its flaws. The pacing stumbles slightly in the third act as the story shifts into heavier drama, dragging briefly before regaining its balance.

And the sibling dynamic between Soni and Sunita Mani never fully quite lands as strongly as the rest, leaving an emotional thread slightly unresolved.

But by the end you’ve laughed, maybe (definitely) cried and definitely walked out feeling lighter.

Ultimately, the film is an earnest, hilarious triumph. Like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Big Sick, and Crazy Rich Asians, it’s universal yet deeply specific, bold yet tender, and utterly satisfying.

A Nice Indian Boy isn’t just a nice rom-com, it’s one of the year’s best—so far.

★★★★

A Nice Indian Boy is in cinemas now.