“To me, this film is about what it means to be seen.”
Netflix shared the first-look images of the coming-of-age dance comedy Best of the Best as it announced that the film will premiere on September 18, 2026.
The film stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Priyanka Kedia and Hasan Minhaj, and centres on the high-stakes world of collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance.
Set at UCLA, the story follows childhood best friends Maya (Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Kedia) as they join the university’s competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team.
As they adjust to freshman life, family expectations and new friendships, they find themselves chasing victory at the US national championship in a fiercely competitive dance circuit.
Minhaj, who plays Professor Hamza Latif, co-wrote the script with his longtime collaborator Prashanth Venkataramanujam.
Speaking about the film, Minhaj told Tudum: “Best of the Best is a film about sisterhood, friendship, and self-acceptance.”
Venkataramanujam added: “To me, this film is about what it means to be seen.”
The film is directed by Lena Khan, who said its mix of genres immediately drew her to the project:
“The thing that enchanted me most about the script was that it was seven different movies in one.
“There’s a dance movie, there’s a friendship movie, [and] there is spectacle and ambition.
“The biggest thing is that it goes very deep, but also goes very big. So you get a movie that’s really exciting, but also heartfelt.
“I think sometimes you want to be able to sit down and have a good time that also [feels] really rich, and it gave you that.”
The idea for Best of the Best came after Minhaj and Venkataramanujam wrapped Patriot Act in 2020.
Wanting to move away from the intensity of current affairs, they decided to create a coming-of-age comedy inspired by their own university experiences.
Venkataramanujam said: “Patriot Act was like grad school for doomscrolling.
“Afterwards, we just wanted to do something that was fun and would bring us joy rather than an eventual blood clot, and we had always talked about doing a coming-of-age comedy about South Asian college kids.
“We were cracking up thinking about all the drama and cliques and gossip, and how intense it all felt at the time. And we eventually realised [that] all roads lead back to the dance team.”
Both writers drew from their experiences on the US collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance circuit.
Minhaj said: “We thought [Best of the Best] could be a love letter to this seminal moment where many people from the South Asian community go to college, and they have this coming-of-age experience where not only their culture is celebrated, but a specific homage to Bollywood dance is celebrated.”
Venkataramanujam explained why they wanted to bring that community to a wider audience:
“This college Bollywood-fusion dance circuit is a huge creative outlet for so many South Asians in America.”
“Most of the kids on these dance teams are studying electrical engineering by day, and then doing four-hour dance practices at night.
“We wanted this film to introduce the world to our world.”
Joining Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Priyanka Kedia and Hasan Minhaj are a few familiar and new faces.
Other cast members include Lilly Singh, XO, Kitty star Sasha Bhasin and Sex Education‘s Chaneil Kular.
Best of the Best arrives on Netflix on September 18, 2026.
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