Karan Soni and Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff star in the award-winning romantic comedy A Nice Indian Boy as a newly engaged gay couple meeting Soni’s conservative Indian parents. It is based on the play by Madhuri Shekar. In an interesting twist, Groff plays a white man adopted by two Indian parents.
Also starring in the movie are Sunita Mani, Zarna Garg, Harish Patel, Peter S. Kim, and Sas Goldberg.
Directed by Roshan Sethi, A Nice Indian Boy world premiered at SXSW Film Festival, then went on to screen at BFI London Film Festival, along with Palm Springs International Film Festival; and will open in theaters on April 4 in US and Canada.
Naveen Gavaskar is a self-effacing, soft-spoken doctor with a boisterous mother, Megha, seemingly perfect sister, Arundhathi, and quiet father, Archit. The Gavaskars are outwardly accepting of Naveen’s sexuality but have never had to confront it in practice.
While worshiping at a temple, Naveen meets Jay Kurundkar, a white man adopted by two Indian parents. Naveen is slowly charmed and softened by Jay’s sincerity and confidence. They fall in love—even as Naveen avoids telling his family about Jay.
One afternoon, they run into Arundhathi’s husband, Manish, and an embarrassed Naveen describes Jay as a “friend”. The encounter precipitates a discussion in which Naveen admits that he, like Jay, dreams of having a big Indian wedding. Now, Jay, who has no family of his own, must meet the Gavaskars. This causes a collision between the family, Jay—who has his own insecurities—and Naveen, caught between who he is with his family and who he is outside of it.
After comic misunderstandings, frank fights, and emotional revelations, the family falls apart, questioning everything. Naveen and Jay’s hard-won love makes each of the Gavaskars face the reality of their own relationships. And through a sweetly-woven reconciliation, they come together again to plan Naveen and Jay’s own big, Indian wedding.
The Hollywood Reporter review called the film, ‘a winning gay rom-com’, writing “Because A Nice Indian Boy is a rom-com, though, it’s practically a given that Naveen will come around by the end. The film delights in public displays and grand gestures, such that it opens and closes on a pair of weddings. But its real strength lies in its sensitivity toward the messy feelings, smaller acts, and platonic and familial bonds that underlie those epic shows of romance. By the end, even those who don’t fancy themselves the sentimental type — as Naveen doesn’t, and I don’t particularly either — are likely to be won over by its modest but dependable charms.”
Watch the official trailer for A Nice Indian Boy.