Netflix’s ‘Best Of The Best’ Brings A Niche World Into The Spotlight

‘Best of the Best’ brings a familiar world to the screen (Cr. Emily V. Aragones/Netflix © 2026).

Emily V. Aragones/Netflix

Netflix’s new film Best of the Best focuses in on the high-stakes, competitive, and often chaotic world of collegiate South Asian dance competitions. But while this may feel like something incredibly niche, what is quickly apparent in speaking with the South Asian artists behind this film is not only how deeply recognizable all this is to children of the diaspora, but how much this kind of story, with all the emotions and relationships underpinning it, is universal.

When actor Ankur Rathee, who plays seasoned dance captain Ronak in the film, first came across this script, he described being in awe of how much he recognized his own life in the story.

“I was like, my god, this resonates so much with my own college experience,” said Rathee.

Rathee, today a professional dancer with experience in Bollywood, tells me how during his college days he and his friends actively participated in the kind of high-stress dance competitions that this film centers around.

“I remember my team captains. I remember how passionately and how seriously we took our pieces, and the choreography, and the voting during auditions, the voting for the leads, and all the drama and politics that come with it. It became your entire life,” said Rathee.

And so, Rathee was amazed that someone was bringing that side of his life, and that real side of his community, to the screen. Thus, he felt he needed to be a part of the production.

Actress Priyanka Kedia tells me something similar. While she explains she is not a professional dancer today, she describes how she and her brother grew up performing South Asian dance routines in local neighborhood dance groups because engaging with the culture in that way was how her community kept their tradition alive.

“It’s a way for diaspora kids to connect to their culture when we’re growing up so far away from it. It’s, you know, music, movies. That kind of becomes the shared language that we can all relate to. So it helps you connect with the community,” said Kedia.

So when Kedia read the script, much like Rathee, she was amazed how much of her life she saw on the page.

“I was like, these are my friends. This is me. I understand this world, and I’ve never seen this written down before in this way,” said Kedia.

And from that moment she was so eager to find a way onto the film that she called her agent insisting that she needed to be a part of this, offering, jokingly, to mop the floors and do production assistant work if that was all that was available.

Her agent, wisely, suggested they begin with just auditioning first. And that is what led Kedia to play Anjali, one of the best friends central to the story.

But beyond the film and its details being so intimately recognizable to members of the South Asian diaspora, the performers also emphasize how well the movie can resonate with viewers of any background.

Actor Chaneil Kular, who plays Arjun and who does not share the same dance background as his co-stars, emphasizes how much he appreciated the story’s universality.

“I do think what’s quite nice about this one in particular is that it’s taking, I think, a South Asian story that on the surface might come across as something that’s almost too niche to be widely appealing, and I think it just shatters that perspective,” said Kular.

Kular tells me that this movie is a story about dance, of course. But, digging deeper, it is really a story about sisterhood, about friendship and about entering the overwhelming world of college-life and facing, for the first time, the challenges of adulthood. And also, it’s really just an exciting athletic competition film that anyone can get into.

Kular goes on to tell me how this kind of representation, the kind that goes beyond the strict assumptions of what a South Asian story should be, is what’s allowing them to bring more authenticity to the screen. And he credits much of the progress here to prominent South Asian trailblazers in the industry and their recent hit projects, such as Riz Ahmed and his show Bait, as well as Himesh Patel’s recent turn in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Odyssey.

Some of those industry trailblazers are also the very ones who got this film into production. Comedian Hasan Minhaj and writer Prashanth Venkataramanujam, both behind the comedy show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, co-wrote Best of the Best, leaning into their actual experiences with this world. From there acclaimed filmmaker Lena Khan (The Tiger Hunter) came on to direct. And, in addition to doing the work to bring this film to life, all three served as industry figures for the younger cast to look up to.

In fact, actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who plays Maya in the duo at the story’s center, tells me how in a recent interview, upon reflecting over her collaboration with these three and how kind and supportive they’d been, she came to tears.

“And I don’t cry like that. But I was just so grateful for the three of them. All three will be invited to my wedding, should I have a wedding. That’s a big caveat,” said Ramakrishnan.

The real heart of the film, and what makes this story so universally recognizable even to anyone who has no connection at all to collegiate dance, is the relationship between best friends Maya and Anjali. The setting of the story is the dance world, yes. But ultimately the character decisions, growth and lessons all come from where these two friends begin, the troubles they face and where this unpredictable journey takes them.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan points this emphasis out herself. She tells me that, beyond all the dancing and high-energy choreography, it’s ultimately an intimate character moment between these two friends, when a heated argument sets them on a rift, that stands out for her.

“I think it’s some of the best acting I’ve ever done in my career. My standards for dancing are low, you know? If I didn’t fall, I’m proud of myself. My standards for my acting are crazy high. And I watched that scene and I had no qualms. I was happy, which is very rare,” said Ramakrishnan.

When I asked Chaneil Kular what he hopes audiences who are not South Asian take away from this film, he tells me he hopes they enjoy this perspective into this identity. But he also hopes they ultimately just focus on what’s universal.

“I just hope that ultimately they sit there and see a story that’s about sisterhood and finding yourself, as well as like just enjoying a high stakes competition,” said Chaneil.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan shares a different sentiment.

“My sassy brain said I hope they get jealous,” she said.

But jealous in the most positive way, she clarifies. She tells me that she hopes audiences can use this film to build or re-build an appreciation for how rich and exciting South Asian culture can be. And she hopes this movie can serve as an invitation to all, if they so desire, to continue exploring South Asian stories.

Best of the Best is now playing on Netflix. The film stars Hasan Minhaj, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia and is directed by Lena Khan.

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