Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
A Nice Indian Boy is a romantic comedy about Naveen (Karan Soni), a shy, awkward doctor who is unable to find a boyfriend. His outgoing best friend, Paul (Peter S. Kim), often gives him advice on how to pick up men, but he refuses to take any of it. Neveen would rather keep to himself than take a chance meeting strangers.
Although Naveen’s mother (Zarna Garg) is supportive of him, his father (harish Patel) seems uninterested in his personal life. When Naveen visits his parents, they would rather discuss his sister, Arundhathi (Sunita Mani), who is in an arranged marriage, than ask if he’s dating anyone. While this annoys Arundhathi, it puts Naveen at ease.
While praying at the temple to the deity Ganesh, Naveen sees a white man doing the same. When he returns to work, Paul mentions that they have to get new pictures for the hospital and that the photographer is cute. Naveen goes to have his picture taken and is surprised to discover that the white man he saw at the temple, Jay Kurundkar (Jonathan Groff), is the photographer.
The two exchange knowing glances, then Jay asks Naveen out on a date. Jay takes Naveen to see a screening of the popular Bollywood film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which is also one of Jay’s favorite movies. Naveen is surprised Jay knew about the movie, so Jay explains that he was a foster child who was taken in by an older Indian couple who have since passed away.
Soon they begin dating and everything is going well until Jay asks to meet Naveen’s parents. And with that, the romantic drama begins.
Some Thoughts:
A Nice Indian Boy has all the requirements for a fun romantic comedy but still manages to fail. While the premise of an Indian man dating a white man who identifies as Indian is interesting, the story stumbles over it time and again. We get a brief history of how Jay was adopted and get to see a family photo of Jay and his parents, but that’s it. Instead of explaining how Jay came to embrace his parents’ heritage and accept it as his own is never explored.
Another missed opportunity is Naveen’s relationship with his sister, Arundhathi. It’s obvious that she’s unhappy with her life and that she holds some animosity towards Naveen, but it’s never explored. The same is true with Naveen’s relationship with his parents. The viewer is forced to accept the situation without understanding how it all came to be.
For a film about what it means to be Indian, we never get a full sense of the culture. We see weddings and hear about movies, but that’s it. It also doesn’t help that this is intended to be a romance, but there is no spark between the leading men. And on top of that, their characters never seem interested in each other. Naveen is supposed to be won over by Jay’s goofiness, but he comes across as confused by it rather than charmed. And what Jay sees in Naveen is a mystery.
As if all of the above isn’t bad enough, the acting and pacing are pretty awful. By the end you just want it to be over. Not even the festivities at the end can bring any joy to the thoughtless mess.
The Final Verdict:
A Nice Indian Boy is a romantic comedy that lacks both. The acting is bad, and the story is poorly executed.