All praises to the swoon. The best romcoms wash over you, enter your nervous system, and just make your face and body involuntarily move with the film you’re watching. It’s been a while since one did that for me, but the wait is officially over. A Nice Indian Boy put a smile on my face, I couldn’t help it, I was wonderfully, sweetly, infected.
We open on the final day of weddings for Arundhathi Gavaskar (Sunita Mani) and her new, doctor husband Manish (Sachin Sahel) during their big dance number. Arundhathi’s parents Megha (Zarna Garg) and Archit (Harish Patel) couldn’t be happier…and also moving onto hoping for grandkids ASAP. This leaves Naveen (Karan Soni) on the sidelines, clapping along but trying to figure out how this will work if he ever wishes to marry the man of his dreams. I don’t think he expected that man to possibly be Jay Kurundkar (Jonathan Groff), worshipping at the feet of Ganesh, but alas, Naveen’s dreams might turn into reality sooner than he thinks.
Chemistry is the biggest factor of a romantic comedy. If you’re not enjoying the courtship, the movie falls apart. A Nice Indian Boy knows this, and effing delivers. You see it on that first interaction, where the meek Naveen chats with the magnetic Jay, about to take his work photo. I’ve liked Groff before, but he’s nothing short of divine here, using those giant eyes and radiant smile to completely win over the beguiled Karan Soni. It flows into that first date, as the looks transform into dialogue. Naveen sees through Jay’s weirdness (like his DDLJ obsession) and sees the real him underneath, exactly what Jay was looking for. All the getting to know you stuff feels wonderfully specific about the two of them, as the emotionally free Jay gets tired waiting for the tightly wound Naveen to gain some courage. Hence, you’re locked into the ebbs and flows of their relationship, hoping Naveen gets his wedding and Jay gets his family.
Ah, yes, family. The other half of A Nice Indian Boy is about the Gavaskar family. When the romcom part of the movie is over and the wedding should start, we instead slow down, and dig deeper into Naveen’s family dynamics. Sunita Mani, Zarna Garg, and Harish Patel get real moments to be more than the stereotypes they are presented as in the beginning of the movie, great actors that rise to their big chances on the big screen. I was particularly moved by both parents, who get maybe more emotional moments than the leads. Roshan Sethi helps these moments pop by mixing them up. It’s not all about Naveen. Jay and Archit get a nice one on one. Megha and Archit have great moments together. Sunita and Megha even get little moments that might make you shed a tear or two. These diversified pairings in A Nice Indian Boy kept me wishing for the movie to continue instead of ending, a testament to how emotionally on point the actors and story delivered.
If I were Indian, I would be dreaming about that wedding too. I encourage everyone in the audience to attend an Indian wedding. They’re the most fun events, pulling all the stops to make this a dream day for the bride and groom. What makes it even better is if you crash one like I did: just walk in like you belong there during the reception, and no one will say anything.