Roshan Sethi’s A Nice Boy, originally titled A Nice Indian Boy, is a low-key comedy-drama about an Indian American doctor bringing his white, Indian-adopted boyfriend into his family. In her October 17, 2025 review for Scroll, critic Nandini Ramnath praises its observational humor and performances but finds its family conflicts contrived and its portrait of Indian American life too rushed to persuade.
What is A Nice Boy about?
At his sister’s wedding, Indian American doctor Naveen is asked when he will marry a nice Indian girl. Since he is gay, he imagines bringing home a nice Indian boy instead. He meets Jay, a photographer and the white adopted son of Indian parents, and the two become romantic partners.
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Their different relationships to Indian culture give the film its central tension. Jay embraces his Indian heritage and adores Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ); Naveen considers the Bollywood romance corny and absurd. The contrast lets the film explore what belonging, family acceptance and cultural adjustment mean to each man.
What does the review praise?
Ramnath finds observational humor in the couple’s contrasting tastes and family encounters, and describes the performances as efficient within the film’s modest production. The story reaches its central issue quickly rather than spending long on setup.
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#1 Best Overall
- Shrink-wrapped
The film was written by Eric Randall, adapting Madhuri Shekar’s play of the same name. Karan Soni plays Naveen and Jonathan Groff plays Jay; the cast also includes Zarna Garg as Megha, Harish Patel as Archit and Sunita Mani as Arundhathi. Sethi directed, and Justin Baldoni is among the producers named in the review.
Why does Ramnath find the family story unconvincing?
Ramnath’s main criticism is that the family’s resistance feels manufactured. Jay is already partly Indianized, she argues, making the parents’ apparent consternation harder to believe. She also finds the sister’s negative reaction contrived. The film’s affection for Bollywood romance, meanwhile, limits how much it can question or subvert the conventions it celebrates.
Rank #2
- The Boy (Limited Edition Glow In The Dark) - DVD Brand New
At the review’s reported runtime of 96 minutes, Ramnath argues, there is too little room to develop the parents, sister and Jay. The result, in her assessment, is a sketch of family conflict rather than a fully convincing account of the Indian American experience. These are the reviewer’s judgments, not facts about how viewers generally respond.
What is the review’s verdict?
Ramnath calls the film “a curio for local viewers who might wonder what it is like to be of Indian origin, gay and a Bollywood fan in America.” That captures both its appeal and its limitation: the premise offers a specific cultural intersection, but the review finds the treatment too compressed and thinly developed to make that experience feel fully realized.
Rank #3
How long is the film, and where can you watch it?
Ramnath reports a runtime of 96 minutes. The Prime Video title page lists a duration of 1 hour 34 minutes, so the sources differ slightly; neither figure should be treated as a universal metadata consensus.
The Prime Video page also displays a notice that the video is currently unavailable. A title page does not confirm that the film can be streamed or rented in any particular country, and availability can vary by region. Check the service directly for your location.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Factory sealed DVD
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