A Nice Indian Boy: A Nice and Consistently Surprising Rom-Com
A Nice Indian Boy uses great performances and insightful writing to make an occasionally corny yet wonderful rom-com. Watching this movie made my day.
I went into A Nice Indian Boy wanting to like it because I love the leads already but I wasn’t expecting to love it. It follows the simple plot of Naveen (Karan Soni) falling in love with Jay (Jonathan Groff) and then navigating the chaos of introducing him to Naveen’s family. This seems like it’ll be pleasant enough, but I loved how this film approached it. The characters are all extremely developed, and the story manages to remember both the dramatic and comedic sides of the rom-com. A Nice Indian Boy uses great performances and insightful writing to make an occasionally corny yet wonderful rom-com. Watching this movie made my day.
Karan Soni has always been great in everything I’ve seen him, whether in Other Space or Deadpool. He’s also great as a rom-com lead through a performance that makes being shy and annoyingly hesitant to express his feelings cute. Jonathan Groff is known for his charm in everything I’ve seen him in, and this was no exception. His performance was excellent, and he made terrific use of his built-in magnetism. Another outstanding performance at the story's core was Sunita Mani, giving her character Arundhathi so much depth. A strength of this film is how everyone has an arc, and hers felt the most intriguing outside of the core two. I almost wish there was a bit more to her here, but she had enough for me to be satisfied.
However, the standout performance in this film wasn’t given by any of the three people I just listed; it’s Zarna Garg as Naveen’s mother, Megha. Zarna Garg gets the most laughs and steals the movie at every turn. She made her character lovable, and I was always excited to see her onscreen. Sometimes, it’s tough to like the parents in stories like this, but she made it easy along with Harish Patel, who plays Naveen’s father. Harish Patel has a highly complex role as his character arguably changes the most out of any others throughout the film. It was a joy to see how his character changed through him. He also had great chemistry with the rest of the cast, but the complexity of the writing was key to my enjoyment.
A Nice Indian Boy uses great performances and insightful writing to make an occasionally corny yet wonderful rom-com. Watching this movie made my day. Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff are great together and away from each other in their roles. Sunita Mani gives her character a well-appreciated depth and dimensions. Zarna Garg nearly flawlessly steals the show with a performance that weaves between comedy and dramatic elements. The writing is wonderfully insightful and well-rounded, making this a stellar rom-com or just a movie in general. I needed to see a film like this today, and I think you do too. Roshan Sethi made a great film here and I can't wait to check out his filmography and see what he does next.
I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I loved it. I hope you liked this review and like the movie when you see it. Thanks for reading!