One of the breakouts at last year’s SXSW, Roshan Sethi’s “A Nice Indian Boy” is an utterly disarming cross-cultural, inter-generational rom-com buoyed by a sparkling ensemble. Cultural mores and expectations fuse effortlessly with a clever, delightful riff on “DDLJ” in the film’s decisive queering redirection.
Ahead of the film’s US release on April 4, Roshan Sethi and the film’s lead, Karan Soni, sat down with HighOnFilms’ Debanjan Dhar for an exclusive chat.
Debanjan Dhar: One of the best things about the film is how it knits together this intergenerational understanding, like there’s equal empathy and kindness for the parents and their perspective, as well as the sister’s side, not just the couple. Were those elements present in the original play itself? How did it evolve through the script and with you coming aboard?
Roshan Sethi: Madhuri wrote the play to understand her parents, who at the time were very interested in having her marry a nice indian boy. If I were tasked with writing the story in 2025, I’d have just written them as cardboard characters. It’s tough to have empathy for other people, much less for a generation above you. It’s also a lesson in good writing that every character, no matter how small or big, has to have a lived reality.
Debanjan Dhar: Karan, Naveen is initially so guarded and not really expressive. Tell me about judging the measure and awkwardness in such a performance. Do you ever have spells of doubt, like the camera not registering the slight little things?
Karan Soni: Yes, absolutely. Actually, on most days during this movie, I left the set feeling like I’d done a bad job. It was a big learning experience. Usually I get to play more character parts, which has more scope to let me say what I’m feeling. This part is quieter. A lot of his feelings are unsaid. Those around him are more animated. But Roshan is my partner in real life so I trusted him when he said we got it and he can feel it. But even when I saw some of the footage, I still felt like I wasn’t doing enough. Nevertheless, it did teach me that if you really trust you’re in it and you can feel it, the camera is sensitive and will pick it up. But I was definitely insecure on many days of shooting.
Debanjan Dhar: So, do you watch the monitor?
Karan Soni: No, I don’t look at it while filming because I don’t want to get self-conscious. But trust me, the minute we stopped filming, I told Roshan I needed to look some scenes cut together. Once I saw some of it, I felt at ease that we got what we were aiming for.
Debanjan Dhar: This film is such a triumph of an ensemble piece. Families have such disparate, clashing energies. Tell me about bringing the ensemble together and establishing that lived in feeling. Did you have time to do any rehearsals?
Roshan Sethi: We didn’t actually, which you think would have happened given the nature of five people talking. They didn’t really know each other. Karan and Sunita had spent three days together previously. Karan and Zarna had glancing interactions, and she wasn’t available for prep. Nobody spoke to Harish, even though he was there. It was a bizarre thing. They all started acting together, and it immediately felt like a family. I am always torn about rehearsals. Karan and I often feel that rehearsals deprive you of the energy by leaking it but I do also recognise it’s helpful for figuring out certain rhythms. Rehearsals work better for drama, I think, than comedy, where you need the electricity. Humour is pretty tougher than crying. To make people laugh can be quite a task.
Karan Soni: Also I feel the writing, the characters were so clear and distinct and we got good actors, the scenes just played out smoothly. So much of it has to be on the page.
Debanjan Dhar: But on set, do you do a lot of takes? Is there a lot of improv, like for the big family scene when Naveen brings Jay home?
Roshan Sethi: There’s so much coverage of that scene. But we rarely did more than two takes per set up. That’s because all those lines are from the play. They have been tested for over a decade. So there’s really nothing to alter. Everything flows out of good writing, acting, and directing. It almost felt like we weren’t doing much. But it would have been much more difficult if it weren’t such gifted performers. It was like watching a play.
Karan Soni: But Zarna and I would improvise a little and add some flourishes.
Roshan Sethi: The Ganesh tattoo bit was all Zarna. It made no sense to me, but everyone cracked up. Even when she pointed out the photo of the red turtlenecks, I again thought it was nonsensical, but everybody loved it.
Debanjan Dhar: There’s also Ali Sethi’s gorgeous song Ishq that comes up, Can you talk about getting the rights?
Roshan Sethi: We reached out directly to Ali, who we didn’t know personally at the time but now have come to. I actually wanted Pasoori, but it was also sung by Gill, who, I guess, lives in a conservative part of Pakistan and was uncomfortable with the gay way in which the song would be used. We were going to use the instrumental version but we switched up to Ishq. But everything Ali does is beautiful. His songs aren’t just musically fun but have this ancient depth to them. They feel like some sufi has been singing them for centuries.
Karan Soni: The other nice thing was that it was used for a love scene, and it was beautiful- a gay, brown singer was singing for the scene. It felt like the right thing.
Debanjan Dhar: Was the toughest scene the dance one?
Karan Soni: (laughs) I can’t dance, so it was my worst nightmare. We shot the movie from Mondays to Saturdays. On Sundays, I’d have four hours of dance rehearsals. Zarna and I struggled. Sunita learnt the choreography in 45 minutes and never had to come back. It was stressful leading up to it, but it was fun once we started shooting. What’s interesting is we were dancing for a Broadway performer who’s not dancing. It was funny but I think they all liked the idea that Jonathan, who has the most experience, wasn’t dancing. It was such a joyful way to end the movie because the technicalities ceased to matter.
Roshan Sethi: And Karan still remembers the choreo!
Karan Soni: It’ll never leave me (laughs).
Debanjan Dhar: In this age of streamers and ever-pervasive tentpole franchises, how difficult is it to find a theatrical release for this kind of movie? Did you have to fight a lot for it?
Roshan Sethi: It’s been very hard to get it out. The general feeling is that people have stopped watching movies like this, putting aside the gay and Indian aspects. We’ve always felt the movie is very commercial in style. We are watching the collapse of the box office. Original ideas are having a tougher time. Audiences have been trained to watch a particular kind of movie in theatres. So it’s not even necessarily a fault of distributors, as it is the way in which the ecosystem has evolved. But I’ll be happy for people to find this movie wherever they can, be it in theatres or streaming. I don’t even care if people pirate it and spread it around India. As long as people watch it, I’m fine.
Karan Soni: Oh my god, I cannot agree with that, but okay (laughs).
Debanjan Dhar: How did you manage to get the licensed footage from DDLJ? How did that fall into place?
Roshan Sethi: We just wrote a letter to Adi Chopra, and he said yes. It’s the kindest thing. Everyone speaks highly of him. The Netflix docu-series, The Romantics, kind of shows how wise and kind he is. That’s how it comes across.
Debanjan Dhar: I think in some interview last year you mentioned you two were planning to make a horror film. Any update on that?
Roshan Sethi: Karan did a horror-thriller; I’m not involved in that. But I’m a fan of it. He’s the lead, he plays a murderer-screenwriter. It’s very good.
Debanjan Dhar: What’s next for you, Roshan?
Roshan Sethi: I’m going to do an action movie with the John Wick producers.
Debanjan Dhar: And you have a book coming up?
Roshan Sethi: It’s coming out in July 2026. It’s a novel.
Debanjan Dhar: I’m so bummed I watched this film on a loop but I hope you guys bring it to India.
Roshan Sethi: Well, we have distribution coming up in India. It’s with the censorship board now. I hope it comes through. If not, well, do what you need to do! (laughs)
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