The competitive world of collegiate Bollywood fusion dance takes center stage in Netflix’s new comedy “Best of the Best,” a coming-of-age story about friendship, family expectations and the pressure to be the best.

Starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia, the film follows best friends Maya and Anjali after they join UCLA’s highly competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team. What starts as an exciting opportunity quickly becomes an intense journey filled with demanding rehearsals, fierce competition, unexpected rivalries and plenty of drama.

Directed by Lena Khan, “Best of the Best” explores a world that combines traditional South Asian dance influences with modern choreography and the intensity of collegiate competition. The students aren’t simply dancing for fun—they’re competing for the chance to win a national championship while also trying to keep up with the demands of college.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Plays a Determined Competitor

Ramakrishnan, who became a breakout star as Devi Vishwakumar in Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, plays Maya, a confident and outspoken young woman who isn’t afraid to challenge the people around her.

Maya is the person who convinces her best friend Anjali to audition for the dance team. But beneath her tough exterior is someone who is dealing with her own insecurities and a desire to feel accepted.

“Maya’s full of spunk. She’s got nerve,” Ramakrishnan said. “She’s quite combative, but I love her. She’s not just your surface-level hard-ass. She’s vulnerable, and she really just wants to be loved.”

For Ramakrishnan, the role also represents a step beyond the teenage character that made her famous. Maya is still young, but she is facing more complicated questions about friendship, identity and what she wants her future to look like.

Priyanka Kedia’s Anjali Faces Her Own Journey

Kedia plays Anjali, Maya’s best friend and a young woman who has spent much of her life trying to live up to the expectations of others. As the competition becomes more intense, Anjali begins questioning whether being the obedient daughter and dependable friend is enough—or whether she needs to figure out who she is on her own.

Kedia says she recognized parts of herself in Anjali and understood the character’s struggle to step outside familiar roles.

“I’ve been her before, and I still am her in small ways,” Kedia said. She described Anjali’s story as a journey toward discovering who she is beyond the expectations placed on her by her family and friends.

That personal transformation becomes one of the film’s central themes as the two friends navigate the pressures of competition while trying to maintain their relationship.

The Dance Competition Gets Seriously Intense

For anyone unfamiliar with collegiate Bollywood fusion dance, “Best of the Best” offers a glimpse into a competitive world where elaborate performances require months of preparation, teamwork and discipline.

The dancers are competing at an extremely high level, and the pressure can take a toll on friendships and relationships. Kedia compared the drama surrounding the competition to Dance Moms, noting just how seriously everyone involved takes the opportunity to compete.

“It feels like life and death,” Kedia said. “A lot of the fun of the story is how much this means to everyone and how seriously they take it.”

Khan said the competition is particularly unusual because many of the students are also pursuing demanding academic careers. A dancer might spend hours rehearsing intricate choreography before returning to a college schedule that could include preparing for medical school or an engineering career.

Ramakrishnan said the passion behind the competition was one of the things that stood out to her during production.

“It’s just full of passion, and I have such a deep respect for those who do it, because you have to love it in order to do it,” she said.

Hasan Minhaj Helps Tell a South Asian American Story

Comedian and actor Hasan Minhaj also appears in the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Prashanth Venkataramanujam, his longtime collaborator from Patriot Act.

For Minhaj, the movie is about much more than a dance competition. He sees it as a coming-of-age story reflecting the experiences of South Asian Americans growing up in the United States and balancing cultural traditions with the realities of American life.

“It’s very much a coming-of-age story of the Desi diaspora experience,” Minhaj said, explaining that the film draws from experiences he and Venkataramanujam witnessed firsthand.

That perspective gives the movie another layer beyond its comedy and dance sequences, particularly as Maya and Anjali try to balance their own ambitions with the expectations of their families and communities.

A Cast Filled With Familiar Faces

Along with Ramakrishnan, Kedia and Minhaj, the film features Chaneil Kular, Ankur Rathee, Shreya Navile, Nico Greetham, Lilly Singh, Janina Gavankar and Kavi Ramachandran.

The combination of comedy, dance and coming-of-age themes gives “Best of the Best” a chance to introduce audiences to a competitive world that isn’t often featured in mainstream movies. At the same time, its story about friendship, family pressure and figuring out who you want to become is familiar to anyone who has struggled to find their own identity.

At its core, “Best of the Best” is a story about two best friends discovering that growing up can mean challenging expectations—including their own. Their pursuit of a championship forces them to decide how much they’re willing to sacrifice for success and what matters when the competition is finally over.

“Best of the Best” is directed by Lena Khan and is streaming on Netflix.