Editor’s Word: This evaluation was initially printed throughout the 2024 SXSW Movie & TV Pageant. Wayfarer Studios releases “A Good Indian Boy” in choose theaters Friday, April 4.
I did not have Jonathan Groff singing “Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam” on my 2024 bingo card. The Broadway actor humbly steps into Indian tradition in Roshan Sethi‘s “A Good Indian Boy,” which repeatedly connects again to Aditya Chopra’s “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” — the movie that originated “Tujhe Dekha” (and occurs to be heading to Broadway, not that Groff would know something about that…).
Written by Eric Randall (and primarily based on Madhuri Shekar’s play), “A Good Indian Boy” is all about subverting stereotypes about Indian tradition, each inside and outdoors of the group. The title itself is a cheeky twist on each aunty’s favourite chorus: that when a lady is of the proper age, she or her household will discover her a “good Indian boy” to calm down with.
This time, nonetheless, protagonist Naveen (Karan Soni) is the one planning to convey dwelling a pleasant Indian boy, which might be not what all these aunties had been picturing. However “A Good Indian Boy” delights in defying expectations, even because it follows a standard love story construction. For starters, Naveen’s mother and father know that he’s homosexual, which instantly releases the movie from protecting a coming-out story together with all the pieces else it tries to perform. And as for that good Indian boy … meet Jay (Groff).
Groff’s character was adopted by Indian mother and father, grew up praying to Ganesh (which he pronounces accurately, ga-NAYsh and never ga-NESH), and loving “DDLJ.” As soon as once more, “A Good Indian Boy” cleverly spares the viewers a well-known and taxing storyline; Naveen doesn’t have to elucidate his tradition and upbringing to the fiendishly charismatic photographer (they’re even from the identical a part of India, each with Marathi final names) and after the aforementioned singing on a really memorable first date, issues get critical.
However the place “A Good Indian Boy” does tread outdated territory is when Naveen has to inform his mother and father, performed by Hindi movie veteran Harish Patel and comic Zarna Garg in her function debut (and an ideal on-screen distillation of her standup persona), what’s taking place in his romantic life. The primary-generation child conserving his private life from his mother and father isn’t new however it’s sophisticated by race, sexuality, and the seemingly excellent lifetime of Naveen’s sister Arundhathi — whose storyline appears like an afterthought, however one was understandably written in to make the most of co-star, Sunita Mani.
Soni brings his finely-honed awkwardness to Naveen, carrying a coat of discomfort at the same time as he hits milestones that ought to present aid, like popping out and falling in love. His deft timing supplies most laughs within the movie, together with Garg’s eager consciousness of hit a punchline (and afterward, elicit tears).
Like Sethi’s “7 Days,” the cultural touches in “A Good Indian Boy” by no means really feel like an afterthought. From the final names to the licensed songs and pictures from “DDLJ” to the strategically positioned music by the out-and-proud Ali Sethi, this isn’t a South Asian film made with the only real goal of peddling its South Asian-ness. Sethi’s ardour for love tales is inherently intertwined in his love for Indian tradition and cinema, and now together with his queer identification as he applies these potent if predictable storytelling methods.
Bollywood love isn’t just for straight individuals (one thing the Indian trade is barely incrementally dismantling), and in “A Good Indian Boy,” Naveen realizes that it’s not only for Indian individuals both. When love is that large, it spans cultures and generations, bringing everyone collectively in the long run — similar to “DDLJ.”
Grade: B+
“A Good Indian Boy” premiered on the 2024 SXSW Movie & TV Pageant. The movie opens April 4, 2025.