If you’ve ever been to any type of conference or festival before, you know that it’s physically impossible to see or do everything. At this year’s SXSW film and TV festival, even seeing all Asian-led films was a challenge, with South Asian representation dominating this year. But I’m the type of person to try anyway. From a South Korean thriller about a pair of best friends running smuggling jobs in the ’70s to a Canadian comedy about teaching high school sex ed as a virgin, and everything in between, here are a few of the Asian-led movies I had a blast watching during my (first!) SXSW.
“A Nice Indian Boy”
A universal truth within Indian culture is that an Indian woman of a certain age (or at least her family) must desire a “nice Indian boy.” But in this story, Karan Soni plays Naveen Gavaskar, a gay man of Indian descent looking for his own version of a nice Indian boy. Through a coincidental run-in at a local Hindu temple that leads to a meet-cute at the hospital where Naveen works, he meets Jay Kurundkar, who seems to be the one Naveen is looking for — except Jay, played by Jonathan Groff, is a white man who was adopted by Indian parents.
The movie focuses less on how Naveen and Jay fall in love, and spends more time diving into how Naveen plans to break the news to his family — one, that he’s dating, and two, that his boyfriend (and eventual fiancé) is a white man. Acceptance in the Indian community also gets little coverage, as Naveen’s parents (Zarna Garg and Harish Patel) and his sister (Sunita Mani) are refreshingly supportive of Naveen being gay and Jay joining the family. They’re more than happy to admit that they watch OutTV in their free time, an ongoing bit throughout the film.
Instead, the film navigates the dichotomy between Naveen, who tends to shy away from the boldness of his culture, and Jay, who gladly embraces it. While Jay, an artist, wears his heart on his sleeve and loves to sing the “Dilwale Dulhania Le…
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