The Big Sick and its affair with the romantic comedy genre: What makes the film tick

The film is based on the real-life romance of Kumail and his wife Emily V. Gordon. The two wrote the script of the movie together, and now the screenplay has got an Oscar nod. And why not? You should be rewarded for breathing a new lease of life into a done-to-death genre. While Kumail plays himself, Emily is portrayed by Zoe in the movie. The film could have ended up being just another sad, little rom-com, but thankfully, it doesn’t. It is sad, yes, but not in the pathetic and predictable way. It tugs at your heart, making you smile like a teenager in love, and has the power to move you to tears. And all this because the writers didn’t stick to the ‘formula’. The comedy wasn’t ‘put’ as one of the ingredients, the laughs were just there, waiting to tickle. Nothing in the movie seems forced or out of place.

Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan in a still from The Big Sick

Like many romantic movies, The Big Sick has a dying girl as one of its primary characters. The movie also has the quintessential meet-cute, lovers exchanging kisses, and a culture clash. But it deals with it all smoothly. The film owes a major part of its success to good writing. Writing a movie based on one of the most complicated phases of your life can be hard, and trying to sell it as a light romantic comedy film, harder. But The Big Sick fits the space of the genre while subverting it subtly. To find the said subversion, you will have to look between the lines. The film raises pertinent questions about love life, and race, without actually ‘meaning’ to.

The scene where Emily’s parents Beth and Terry Gardner (played brilliantly by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) are sitting in the hospital cafeteria attempting to make conversation with Kumail is both awkward and hilarious. One, because Terry asks Kumail about his opinions on the 9-11 attack, and two, because the latter, after a stunned couple of seconds, responds with the word ‘Anti’. Trying to understand someone who is in a serious relationship with your daughter is challenging, but if her partner does not share the same culture (for a good part) with you, things can take an uncomfortable turn.

Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon wrote the screenplay of The Big Sick

The arrange marriage bit, where Kumil’s mother (played by Zenobia Shroff) tries to fix his marriage with a Pakistani woman is handled with wit and warmth. Kumail, in the latter half of the movie, disappoints his family by choosing not to marry a girl arranged by his mother and pursuing stand-up comedy as a profession. His decision is met with some drama, and then with silence. However, Kumail’s parents (played by Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff) do not turn against him, they are there to see him off as he relocates to New York City in search of his dreams. Another stereotype shattered.

“My mom kept saying, ‘I don’t know how you’re ever going to make this funny. Even though many funny things happened along the way, it wasn’t funny to her,” Emily Gordon had told the IndieWire during an earlier interview.

And when you look at the bigger picture, it is not funny at all. Seeing someone you love battle coma for eight days is a long year in hell. But the movie doesn’t attempt to gain the laughs, or the tears by resorting to cheap jokes or melodramatic moments. And maybe this is because The Big Sick is actually a slice-of-life film, which just happens to be genuinely funny. Like life, it cannot help itself, and does what it has to; be lovely, painful, and funny all at once.