Explore Netflix's Best of the Best, starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia, with cast, story, dance competition, trailer and streaming details.

Best of the Best: Netflix's Bollywood-Fusion Dance Comedy

Netflix's Best of the Best takes audiences into the competitive world of collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance.

The film stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia as two childhood best friends whose university experience becomes increasingly complicated after they join UCLA's competitive dance team.

The official Netflix trailer was released in August 2026, and the movie began streaming globally on Netflix on September 18, 2026.

By October 2026, the story has moved beyond the "upcoming movie" stage.

It is now a released Netflix feature.

Official Trailer Preview

What Is Best of the Best About?

The movie follows Maya and Anjali, two childhood friends who arrive at UCLA and achieve a shared ambition: joining the university's competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team.

They soon discover that the road toward a U.S. championship is much more intense than expected.

The competition brings together:

dance

friendship

college life

ambition

romance

and South Asian-American identity.

Netflix describes the film as a coming-of-age comedy centered on friendship and self-acceptance.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Maya

Ramakrishnan is best known internationally for starring as Devi Vishwakumar in Netflix's Never Have I Ever.

Best of the Best gives her a feature-film role in which she plays an older character navigating college and young adulthood.

Netflix Tudum describes the film as a kind of transition for Ramakrishnan, moving from the high-school world of Never Have I Ever into a college story.

Priyanka Kedia as Anjali

Priyanka Kedia plays Maya's best friend, Anjali.

The friendship between Maya and Anjali is central to the movie.

Their relationship is tested as competition becomes more intense and each character begins navigating her own ambitions.

Hasan Minhaj Joins the Cast

Comedian and actor Hasan Minhaj appears as Professor Latif.

He also co-wrote the screenplay with Prashanth Venkataramanujam.

The two previously collaborated on Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj. Netflix says they developed Best of the Best partly from their own experiences with South Asian collegiate dance culture.

Lena Khan Directs

The film is directed by Lena Khan, whose previous work includes Disney's Flora & Ulysses.

Netflix Tudum says Khan was drawn to the script because it combined several cinematic forms—including dance, friendship, comedy, spectacle and ambition.

The World of Bollywood-Fusion Dance

The film's central setting is a real cultural phenomenon.

Collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance teams have developed communities on American university campuses, particularly within South Asian-American student communities.

Teams combine Indian dance traditions with contemporary styles.

That can include:

• Bollywood choreography

• hip-hop

• contemporary dance

• classical influences

• popular music

• elaborate costumes

• synchronized group performance

Why the Dance Competition Matters

The competition is more than background decoration.

It provides the film's central pressure.

Performers must train together.

Teams have to coordinate choreography.

Members must handle auditions.

And personal disagreements can affect performance.

That creates a natural environment for comedy and drama.

A Story About Friendship

At the center of the movie are Maya and Anjali.

Their friendship is tested by:

• competition

• new relationships

• ambition

• pressure

• changing priorities

That makes the movie broader than a traditional dance competition story.

A Coming-of-Age Story

Although the characters are entering a university dance environment, the movie also deals with the transition into adulthood.

College introduces new possibilities.

It also introduces new responsibilities.

The characters have to determine who they want to become outside the identities they developed as children.

South Asian-American Identity

The filmmakers drew on experiences within the South Asian diaspora in the United States.

Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam told Netflix that the story was influenced by collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance competitions they had encountered personally.

That gives the film a cultural foundation beyond simply using Indian dance as visual decoration.

The Trailer

Netflix released the official trailer on August 18, 2026.

The trailer introduces the central friendship and the intensely competitive environment surrounding UCLA's dance team.

It also highlights the movie's mixture of comedy, choreography and college drama.

The Film's Tone

Best of the Best is designed to be energetic and accessible.

Netflix categorizes it as a PG-13 comedy, with a running time of approximately 1 hour and 52 minutes.

The movie combines coming-of-age storytelling with large dance sequences.

The Cast Beyond the Leads

The ensemble includes:

• Hasan Minhaj

• Ankur Rathee

• Chaneil Kular

• Shreya Navile

• Becky Alex

• Nihar Duvvuri

• Nico Greetham

• Amryn Khurana

• Tanishq Joshi

• Lilly Singh

• Sasha Bhasin

• Janina Gavankar

• Saara Chaudry

• Kavi Ramachandran

Netflix's official information confirms the ensemble.

The Importance of Choreography

Dance films succeed or fail partly on the credibility of their movement.

The performers have to look like people who actually belong on a competition stage.

Netflix reported that Ramakrishnan undertook dance training for the film and even performed a stunt movement herself during production after building the required physical ability.

Dance Boot Camp

Preparing for a dance movie can be physically demanding.

Ramakrishnan and Kedia discussed a dance boot camp during interviews with Netflix Tudum.

Their preparation helped the performers handle the physical demands of the choreography.

The Visual Style

Director Lena Khan told Tudum that she wanted a visual approach influenced partly by music videos and editorial fashion photography.

That helps explain why the trailer emphasizes vibrant choreography, costumes and large group compositions.

Comedy and Competition

The competitive environment allows the movie to exaggerate the pressure of college dance.

Auditions, team politics, rivalries and rehearsals provide situations where friendship and ambition can collide.

The movie uses that tension for comedy without removing the emotional stakes.

The Netflix Release

Best of the Best premiered on Netflix on September 18, 2026.

Netflix's official page lists it as a 2026 comedy and says it is currently available to stream.

That means the original article's "upcoming release" framing should be updated for current readers.

Why the Film Stands Out

Most sports-oriented college movies focus on conventional athletics.

Best of the Best instead builds its competition around Bollywood-fusion dance.

That gives it a different visual and cultural setting.

The dance team becomes both a competitive institution and a community.

The Role of Representation

Representation is not simply about placing South Asian characters in a film.

The story gives the characters a specific environment connected to their community.

That includes dance, friendship, family expectations, college life and identity.

A Different Kind of Sports Movie

Although dancing is an artistic discipline rather than a conventional field sport, the competitive structure is familiar.

Teams train.

Members audition.

Judges score performances.

Coaches develop routines.

Competitors prepare strategically.

The difference is the performance itself.

Maya and Anjali's Conflict

The central friendship gives the movie an emotional question:

What happens when two people who have always shared the same dream begin wanting different things?

That conflict provides a narrative foundation beneath the dance spectacle.

Why the Movie Can Reach Beyond the Dance Community

A viewer does not have to understand competitive Bollywood dance to understand friendship under pressure.

The story is built around familiar themes:

ambition

belonging

competition

identity

growing up

That makes the cultural specificity an addition rather than a barrier.

The Global Netflix Audience

Netflix's international distribution allows a movie rooted in a U.S. South Asian community to reach audiences around the world.

Viewers can encounter a cultural setting they may never have experienced personally.

That is one of streaming's most important contributions to global entertainment.

The Bigger Picture

Best of the Best is a 2026 Netflix comedy that combines Bollywood-fusion dance, college life, friendship and coming-of-age storytelling.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia lead the film as Maya and Anjali, while Hasan Minhaj co-wrote the script and appears in the cast.

The official trailer arrived on August 18, and the film began streaming on September 18, 2026.

For audiences interested in dance movies, South Asian-American stories, college comedies or Ramakrishnan's post-Never Have I Ever work, the film provides a distinctly contemporary Netflix take on the coming-of-age genre.

Tags: Netflix, Best of the Best, Dance Movies