“Best of the Best,” premiering Friday on Netflix, centers on two childhood friends who join UCLA’s competitive dance team competing in the U.S. Championship circuit. The film was written by Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam, both of whom participated in similar dance competitions during their youth. Director Lena Khan was initially uncertain about the project but became committed after recognizing that South Asian diaspora communities often lack confidence in their own cultural practices and achievements.
Khan drew inspiration from her previous work directing episodes of Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever,” where she explored representation by developing secondary characters with the same depth as leads. She prepared extensively for the film by spending time with UCLA’s dance team and attending competitions in North Carolina. The production assembled choreographers Phillip Chbeeb, Makenzie Dustman, and co-choreographer Joya Kazi to create sequences incorporating multiple regional dance styles, including Kuthu, Bharatanatyam, and Pakistani-influenced forms.
The cast included actors with limited or no competitive dance experience, with star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan undergoing months of intensive training. Khan noted that casting required performers capable of balancing comedy with emotional depth. Production constraints meant dance sequences were often shot in a single day, compared to the typical five-day timeline for standard Bollywood choreography.
Khan emphasized her deliberate choice not to over-explain South Asian cultural references for a global audience, trusting that viewers could engage with the material without extensive exposition. She worked closely with first-time feature writers Minhaj and Venkataramanujam, describing their collaboration as marked by purposeful creative disagreements. The director reflected on industry shifts since her 2016 independent feature “The Tiger Hunter,” noting increased representation of South Asian talent while observing gaps in leading roles for South Asian men and romantic narratives centered on South Asian characters.
The film also stars Lilly Singh, Nihar Duvvuri, Nico Greetham, Amryn Khurana, Tanishq Joshi, Saara Chaudry, and Sasha Bhasin. Khan indicated she remains drawn to projects highlighting underrepresented subjects and communities.
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