A Cozy Hug of a Romcom: A Nice Indian Boy

Roshan Sethi's A Nice Indian Boy (2024) is a queer romantic comedy that wears its clichés proudly. It's fast-paced, sappy, and deeply familiar—but by centering on an Indian-American family and a gay couple, it finds ways to make old tropes feel fresh. The film may not break new grounds, but it offers a warm, heartening embrace of a love story, celebrating tradition and modern romance in equal measure.

 A Nice Indian Boy (Sethi, 2024).

A Nice Indian Boy opens in a vibrant setting: a big Indian wedding filled with color, music, happiness, and family. And like any other wedding or social event with family, there are members who are just a little too involved in your life. Naveen (Karan Soni), the brides' brother, a gentle doctor in his early thirties, is inundated with the familiar questions: “When is it your turn?” or “Do you have someone in mind?” Though meant with love, the comments leave him feeling isolated and quietly imagining what his own wedding might look like.

Love, however, finds him in an unexpected place. On picture day at the hospital, he meets Jay (Jonathan Groff), a charismatic freelance photographer. On their first date, Jay takes Naveen to see his favorite Bollywood classic, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). While Naveen sees the film as an outdated ode to conservative values, Jay disagrees and sings on the side of the street, conveying what Bollywood films are really about: grand declarations of love through song and dance. An awkward yet endearing evening at a gay bar follows. Loosened by tequila, Naveen reveals his own passions. While less glamorous than Bollywood epics, his stories about the hospital parking garage are delivered with equal fervor. They cringe at themselves, they laugh, and after a few more shots, Jay also shares his story. He was adopted after a difficult journey through foster care, and was ultimately raised by the Indian Kurundkar family. Fluent in Hindi, adores Bollywood, and devoted to the god Ganesha, Jay embodies much of the cultural world Naveen belongs to. At last, Naveen has found his “nice Indian boy” — though, crucially, not in appearance.

It's a setup which is tailor-made for romantic comedy: the right person in every way but one. Naveen has found the man he loves, but will his family look past the surface to see the shared culture, values, and devotion underneath? The film turns this tension into both humor and heart, asking whether love can bridge the gap between upbringing, tradition, and expectation.

A Nice Indian Boy (Sethi, 2024).

A Nice Indian Boy largely revolves around the challenges of family expectations, exacerbated by secrets and miscommunication. Before Jay even meets Naveen's parents, the two are already engaged. This fast-paced engagement follows a confrontation after Jay discovers that Naveen hasn't told his family about him, leading to a heated argument. There, in a moment of rare vulnerability and honesty, Naveen admits that while he once insisted he couldn't picture his own wedding, he now envisions a grand, traditional Indian celebration — with Jay by his side. It's a heartfelt confession that immediately pushes them into engagement territory, a leap that feels very romcom: equal parts charming and unconvincing but full of love.

However, their first meeting with Naveen's family descends into a chaotic comedy of errors. Over the phone, Naveen vaguely tells his parents he's bringing a boyfriend he met at the temple, leading them to mistakenly assume Jay is Indian. Their surprise is palpable when the door opens and a white man stands there. The evening worsens when Naveen withholds yet another crucial detail — that he and Jay are already engaged. Overwhelmed with stress, Jay retreats to the bathroom for a vape break, only to have Naveen's sister follow him. She discovers the empty weed cartridge and later exposes his secret to the family. Humiliated and overwhelmed, Jay storms off, effectively ending their engagement.

 A Nice Indian Boy (Sethi, 2024).

This anxious, awkward dinner is a classic romcom trope, but the film executes it with authenticity. The choices Naveen makes, however questionable, feel understandable, which makes Karan Soni's performance all the more compelling. His warmth, restraint, and quiet comic timing anchor the film. The supporting cast is just as compelling: Zarna Garg infuses Naveen's mother with warmth and humor, Harish Patel portrays his father with quiet, stoic authority, and Sunita Mani adds depth and complexity as his sister, Arundhathi. Their subplot is one of the film's most engaging, exposing the double standards at play within the family.

Arundhathi's story mirrors Naveen's in meaningful ways. Married to a man her mother introduced her to on a blind date, she feels trapped by the weight of tradition. Where Naveen saw this as a romantic success — his sister found her match — Arundhathi saw no choice at all. Unhappy and unfulfilled, she moves toward divorce but hides it from her parents, knowing they would never approve. Her bitterness toward Naveen's apparently smoother path makes sense in this light, even if sabotaging his relationship with Jay is cruel. The subplot underscores one of the film's key insights: that family love is real, but it is often complicated by silence, secrets, and unspoken expectations.

As with any rom-com, the breakup doesn't last. Naveen stages an over-the-top, Bollywood-inspired apology straight out of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge . It's excessive, it's sappy — and it works. The two re-engage, and from there the story moves toward its inevitable conclusion: a big Indian wedding. Naveen's parents throw themselves into the planning, with his mother delivering a heartfelt yet funny speech that highlights Zarna Garg's perfect comedic timing. The film closes with a vibrant dance number — all colour, energy, and joy — a finale that pays homage to Bollywood tradition while providing the kind of tidy, celebratory ending romcoms promise.

 A Nice Indian Boy (Sethi, 2024) .