A One Mann’s Movies review of “A Nice Indian Boy” (2024) (From the 2024 London Film Festival).
You know the films at the LFF that go down well. Those that don’t fly get stony silence and the audience simply file out. Those that do fly get a round of applause. This, I’ve found, to be relatively rare and varying in volume depending on the love. “A Nice Indian Boy” – getting its International premier at the LFF – DID get that accolade of the applause, although slightly muted compared to the top-top-favourites from this first press week.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“A Nice Indian Boy” Plot Summary:
Hospital doctor Naveen (Karan Soni) is of Indian heritage, gay and unlucky in love. But he meets the dashing white photographer Jay (Jonathan Groff) and things go from strength to strength. But how will Naveen approach taking Jay home to meet the parents…. when they are expecting him to bring home “A “Nice Indian Boy”?
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This has not yet been rated by the BBFC. I would expect it to be a ’12’ based on occasional bad language.)
Talent:
Starring: Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff, Sunita Mani, Zarna Garg, Harish Patel, Peter S. Kim, Sas Goldberg, Sean Amsing, Sachin Sahel.
Directed by: Roshan Sethi.
Written by: Eric Randall & Madhuri Shekar.
Running Time: 1h 36m.
“A Nice Indian Boy” Summary:
Positives:
- Funny and full of heart: it smashed the 6-laugh test and also the 3-“ahhh” test too!
- Winning performances from both Soni and Groff.
- Feelgood Bollywood feel to the finale.
Negatives:
- It’s basically a gay reworking of “East is East” or “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” so lacks originality.
- A few of the lines (especially in the finale) fall on stony ground.
Review of “A Nice Indian Boy”:
Homophobes will hate it, but everyone else will love it.
This is the gay rom-com we’ve all been waiting for. It follows a traditional story arc of a ‘meet-cute’, then ‘trouble in paradise’, then a re-‘meet-cute’ and then a gloriously positive ending. As a result, I predict that this will be one of the feelgood hits of 2025.
Funny…
This is a film that smashes the 6-laughs test.
We begin in fine style amongst the guests at the wedding of Naveen’s sister Arundhathi (Sunita Mani) to a dashing Indian orthopaedic surgeon, Manish (Sachin Sahel). Predictably, everyone comes up to Naveen (Karan Soni) saying “You’re next!”, not knowing that he is gay. “What WILL they say”, Naveen muses, “when I bring home a nice Indian boy?”. Fortunately this revelation IS known (and, refreshingly, accepted) by his family. It is just a well-kept secret.
In the hospital you have the interplay between Naveen (Karan Soni) and his friend Paul (Peter S. Kim) (also gay) which is often very funny.
Then you have the cringe-worthy first meeting of Jay with Naveen’s family: Mother Megha (Zarna Garg), father Archit (Harish Patel) and sister Arundhathi. You can guarantee that it is not going to go terribly well, despite Jay’s deep knowledge of Indian traditions. His sister (who has her own ongoing problems) cruelly taunts him… “white sugar or brown sugar… he seems a bit confused”.
…And Moving
The cute-meet of Naveen and Jay is terrific. Jay is the photographer taking all of the staff photos. Do you remember that wonderful scene in “Somewhere in Time” where Christopher Reeve is desperately attracted to the photograph of Jane Seymour? You only subsequently find, after Reeve’s character has gone back in time, that she is actually smiling at HIM, behind the camera! This scene reminded me strongly of that: a magnificent photograph driven by a look of first love.
Jay and Naveen are like an odd couple. Jay is outwardly confident and extravert (he bursts into a Bollywood song from the classic film DDLJ – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – in the street. Conversely, Naveen is shy and embarrassed (shades of Jesse Eisenberg in “A Real Pain“). And yet, one of Jay’s close friends, Billie (Sas Goldberg) pulls Naveen aside and tells him that “He’s more fragile than he seems.”
One of the “Ah…” moments for me comes in a really cute brother and sister heart-to-heart on a doorstep. This is then comprehensively trumped by a reconciliation stunt SO CUTE that it brought tears of joy to my eyes.
Another super moment comes when the father Archit visits Jay’s art exhibition and sees where he has actually come from. Just super and with echoes of that dodgy (“It’s Art”) art exhibition from “Love Actually”!
A strong ensemble cast
The whole cast are excellent with no weak elements. But particularly winning are the leads Karan Soni & Jonathan Groff. Groff can obviously sing well (he was, of course, King George in “Hamilton”) and this was used to good effect in a funny karaeoke scene.
A fine finale
You would expect a film like this to close on a feelgood ending and it does, Bollywood style. The only fly in the ointment for me were a few duff lines from Paul (Peter S. Kim) who was sat next to some old lady that I don’t think we were ever introduced to during the film. (Deleted scenes perhaps??)
Summary Thoughts on “A Nice Indian Boy”
This is a really fun and engaging rom-com. It’s not a particularly novel idea: we found the same inter-racial and arranged marriage plot-lines in both 1999’s “East is East” and last year’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It?“. But I do predict that it will be a big hit when it hits UK cinemas, presumably now during 2025. Watch out for it!
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
At the time of writing, this film was not yet on the Justwatch database.
Trailer for “A Nice Indian Boy”:
At the time of writing, there is no formal trailer for the film. In the meantime, here are the creators and cast talking about the film at its WW premier at the SXSW festival earlier this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1iXdO7Eu8I.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
