“A Nice Indian Boy” is the recent, unique romantic comedy that I’ve been ready for. It’s a kind of uncommon motion pictures with excellent comedic timing and can make everybody within the theater chortle whereas telling an emotional story. Directed by Roshan Sethi, the movie will resonate with you lengthy after the credit have rolled. Based mostly on the play by Madhuri Shekar and tailored for the display screen by Eric Randall, the story combines components of each the American rom-com and the Indian Bollywood movie to create a brand new and much-needed sort of affection story.
And, like each good love story, it has an excellent starting.
“What will it look like when I bring home a nice Indian boy?” wonders Naveen (Karan Soni) as he sits off to the aspect on the wedding ceremony celebration of his sister Arundhathi (Sunita Mani). Within the movie’s first scene, as Naveen gazes longingly on the dancing earlier than him, it’s clear that he needs what his sister has, however he’s not sure that he’ll ever have an enormous Indian wedding ceremony of his personal.
That is partially as a result of his mother and father are supportive in idea — they know he’s homosexual — however they’ve by no means seen him “be gay.” This leaves Naveen to hope for a marriage however doubt that he’ll ever have a husband like his sister’s Manish (Sachin Sahel).
This set-up is the prologue, and what follows is a narrative that begins six years later and is informed in 5 chapters. In “Chapter 1 – The Boy,” Naveen meets Jay Kurundkar (Jonathan Groff), a white artist who was adopted and raised by Indian mother and father who’ve died. Within the film’s meet-cute second, the 2 are worshipping in entrance of the Ganesh altar on the identical temple. Despite the fact that they don’t converse and even make eye contact, the strain is palpable. When Jay will get as much as depart, he rings a bell, symbolically setting their love story in movement.
The following day, the 2 stumble upon one another on the hospital the place Naveen is a physician. Jay is the photographer taking the workers’ footage. He invitations Naveen to go to a screening of his father’s favourite film. Unaware that Jay was raised by Indian mother and father, Naveen is shocked that Jay invited him to go see DDLJ (“Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”), a traditional Bollywood love story from the ’90s.
The remainder of their date is an imperfect but real looking scene by which they discuss at a bar and get to know one another. As the 2 converse, it instantly turns into clear that one other very American trope is being woven into the story — a grumpier, reserved realist falls in love with a sunshine-y, extroverted optimist. Naveen doesn’t “want to hear sweeping declarations of love. It’s 2024. The world is burning.” In the meantime, Jay is dreaming of an enormous Indian wedding ceremony, and he loves DDLJ as a result of “it doesn’t end with the couple getting together again like in an American movie … It’s about everybody together. The family. The wedding.”
This construction, and the truth that the film accomplishes it in a decent 90 minutes, units “A Nice Indian Boy” other than different rom-coms. It is usually only one manner the movie pays homage to DDLJ. From the bell within the meet-cute to the flowers and singing, “A Nice Indian Boy” persistently references the long-lasting film in apparent and refined methods.
Along with its construction, the film has a superb solid. Naveen’s mother Megha (Zarna Garg) and pa Archit (Harish Patel) have unimaginable comedic timing. Additionally, their want for his or her son to really feel beloved and supported comes throughout so strongly that I discovered myself rooting for the household to reconnect as a lot as I used to be rooting for Naveen and Jay’s relationship. Naveen’s greatest pal Paul (Peter S. Kim) can be an excellent scene accomplice and has equally nice comedic timing.
Between the construction, affect of DDLJ and main roles the household and buddies play, it turns into clear that “A Nice Indian Boy” is telling a brand new sort of affection story that’s greater than two characters falling in love.
The 4 chapters that observe the meet-cute give audiences a fuller love story of two males integrating one another into their households. The plot goes from them falling in like to assembly Jay’s buddies and Naveen’s household to getting engaged to creating their declaration of affection at an enormous Indian wedding ceremony of their very own.
Nonetheless, no chapter is conflict-free. From withholding info and a disastrous first assembly with Naveen’s mother and father, it seems like the marriage won’t ever occur in any respect. Then, as soon as the couple’s engagement is again on once more, it looks as if, as homosexual males, a standard Indian wedding ceremony could also be inaccessible.
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Fortunately, it’s not. And the end result of the film in “Chapter 5 – The Wedding” is what in the end makes the story so deeply shifting. When Naveen and Jay stand collectively below the mandap and trade vows and circle the fireplace, it’s each a common image of affection and represents {that a} love like theirs can exist and be celebrated inside a extra conventional Hindi tradition.
I don’t wish to spoil the ultimate scene as a result of it was much more stunning, and I discovered myself tearing up in the best way that motion pictures not often make me do anymore. It’s additionally this last second that cements the film as a brand new addition to the American rom-com canon and units it aside for telling a developed story that’s rooted within the traditions of a number of cultures on the identical time.
“A Nice Indian Boy” is in theaters now.
