A Nice Indian Boy at Luna

Jonathan Groff (as Jay Kurundkar)and Naveen Gavaskar (as Karan Soni), in A Nice Indian Boy
Photo Credit: Roadshow Films

On a sunny but chilly Saturday morning, my partner and I headed down to Luna Leederville to check out the latest offering from director Roshan Sethi, A Nice Indian Boy. The trailer had promised an endearingly awkward rom-com with a touch of Bollywood thrown in, so we were looking forward to a few laughs along the way to a feel-good happy ending.

And A Nice Indian Boy certainly delivered all that during its 1 hour 36 minutes run time, with all the familiar beats about being a gay man in a traditional Indian family and the chaos ensuing from unexpectedly bringing home a white partner who was raised by Indian parents, but we were pleasantly surprised to experience the warm emotional vibe underpinning the whole process.

When perpetually single Naveen Gavaskar (Karan Soni) meets Jay Kurundakar at his temple and then at work the next day, these chance encounters spark off a whirlwind love affair. Soon the couple are planning marriage, but there is just one problem: Naveen hasn't even told his parents he has a partner, let alone one that is white.

Naturally, when Naveen finally brings his fiance Jay Kurundakar (Jonathan Groff) to meet his parents and sister, one disaster leads to another and soon the wedding is off and the relationship is over. 

Will true love win out? Can Naveen learn to stand up for himself and Jay? Will Naveen's family come to the party in time? No surprises here but the movie deftly manages to avoid falling into caricatures and cliches while giving each cast member their own growth moments, some of them quite touching and definitely a bit misty-eye inducing. Director Roshan Sethi, Screenwriter Eric Randall and Playwright Madhuri Shekar have all drawn upon their own personal experiences to ground the film with authenticity beneath the “masala” frothiness and excess.

All in all, A Nice Indian Boy is a fun rom-com with a deep emotional base of love in all forms underneath it all. The usual tropes are there but with a lot of little twists to give a fresh take on an old story. Very enjoyable and will definitely have you leaving the cinema with a wide smile and perhaps even a tap in your toes!

A Nice Indian Boy opens on the 10 July and will be showing at Luna Leederville and Luna on SX.

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