First Impressions: Step Onstage with “The Best of The Best”

Crafted by the creative mind of renowned actor and comedian Hasan Minhaj, the new Netflix film Best of the Best brings together some of the silver screen’s greatest. The South Asian college comedy follows two best friends as they rekindle their love of dance by joining UCLA’s highly competitive Bollywood-fusion dance club. The film focuses on traditional Bollywood dance archetypes while also incorporating elements of contemporary dance. Best of the Best depicts a story of girlhood and how to navigate a new chapter of puberty amid school and peer pressure. It emphasizes self-discovery without sacrificing relationships with loved ones. 

Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers!

Meet The Best Of The Best

Best of the Best opens with best friends Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia) attempting to win their high school’s dance competition. Maya is determined to defeat her high school rival, Tanya. In order to capture the audience’s interest, she alters her and Anjali’s standard Bollywood-inspired dance to incorporate drones to liven the show. The bold move does just that until the drones malfunction mid-performance. The cherry on top is when one of the drones ends up flying directly at Maya, knocking her out quickly. Maya goes viral on social media as “Drone Strike Girl” after that, and this chapter of her dance dreams comes to an end.

With the introduction already setting us up for a crazy chain of events, the next sequence takes a more nostalgic approach by showing video montages of Maya and Anjali growing up. Each video is a tribute to their friendship, as they dance, laugh, and enjoy their bonding meal: Taco Bell.

In the present, we see the girls starting their first year at UCLA. Anjali is starstruck by her newfound independence and overwhelmed by the boundless possibilities that can unfold, while Maya tries to pull her down from her high. The girls begin unpacking with their family, and we can already sense a shift in the girls’ genuine motivations for being there.

Anjali’s mother is stern and puts pressure on Anjali to maintain her focus while at school, as she was initially waitlisted. While she finishes unpacking, her mother discovers Anjali’s concealed stash of birth control, resulting in a heated confrontation in the living area, which ends with her mother slapping her across the face. Anjali and her mother’s exchange subtly demonstrates the comparison of the two best friends, as her mother points out that Anjali needs to work harder in school than Maya, who was given a full ride and excels academically.

Reigniting A Passion For Dance

After the argument, Maya tries to console Anjali by getting her to attend the SASA (South Asian Student Association) for their back-to-school celebration. It’s there that Maya meets Arjun (Chaneil Kular), whom her mother mentioned during the move. The two exchange flirty banter, while Anjali discovers UCLA’s Bollywood dance team. She considers joining the team but is concerned about the time commitment and how it will affect her schoolwork. Her thoughts vanish when she sees the team perform on stage during the mixer.

Maya and Anjali have different perspectives on experiencing the beauty of dance. Anjali falls head over heels for Ronak (Ankur Rathee), the team captain, as she imagines herself as the female lead dancer in the aforementioned routine. The scene captures aspects of Bollywood movie tropes, as she is whisked away while being serenaded by him. On the other hand, Maya envisions herself taking center stage as the lead in the dance performance. Their perspectives complement one another, emphasizing their distinct reasons for pursuing the same dance ensemble. That night served as the catalyst for their desire to join, and the two decided to try out.

They are tasked with performing a specific song for 10 rounds as team members laser anyone they deem unworthy out. Fortunately, Anjali and Maya demonstrate their abilities and earn spots on the team. Now that they are members, they can formally meet the dance crew, including Nirbhay (Nihar Duvvuri), who tried out for the role four times and their newfound frenemies Dimple (Becky Alex) and Deepica (Shreya Navile), among others. Ronak leads the squad on their ultimate mission: defeating USC after losing first place to them in the Best of The Best competition the previous year. Ronak is especially interested in going up against USC, as their respective team captain also happens to be his ex, Selena Joshi (Neha Anushka).

The group decides on this year’s storytelling theme, but they go for a more traditional approach to be safe: Bollywood shaadis (weddings), much to Maya’s dismay. Maya stands up, suggesting that with so much competition, they should think outside the box and be a little more innovative. However, Ronak doubles down, highlighting how the lavishness of Bollywood’s “extra” aesthetic is at the heart of what makes it innovative. 

Conflict Escalates

Some time later, Maya is on campus when she notices Ronak, Dimple, and Deepica discussing the votes for the bride lead and learns she has the most votes. This annoys the trio, so they create a plan to modify Deepica’s vote to create an eight-vote tie breaker for both Maya and Anjali. The deciding vote goes to team leader Ronak, who chooses to pull for Anjali. Maya had planned to tell Anjali about the bad news, but Anjali joyfully tells her the good news, prompting Maya to keep quiet for fear of ruining the moment. 

Eventually, the first round of competitions begins, with the team performing a customary wedding ceremonial dance. Maya senses the lack of engagement from the audience and, frankly, disinterest from the judges, so she takes matters into her own hands and turns on the fog machine, against the team’s wishes. The fog machine immediately causes chaos, obscuring the dancers’ vision and causing the team to collide with one another. Anjali falls and her hair becomes entangled with the carriage, prompting the members to intervene to release her. 

UCLA plummets from the leaderboard as a result of the disaster, and Ronak cuts Maya from the team. Anjali tries to persuade Maya’s return, but Ronak tells her that her only option is to volunteer at the date mixer as a bid candidate. The team wants as many candidates as possible for the event since they need to raise funds for their impromptu trip to Berkeley, where they entered another tournament to help their chances of moving up the scoreboard.

Maya and Anjali’s Friendship Turns Sour

As the movie progresses, Maya and Anjali’s friendship becomes strained. Anjali shifts her concentration away from her studies to spend time with the team and their social events. This is clear when Anjali skips a computer science quiz to spend the day at the mall. Anjali asks Maya to take the quiz for her, and Maya reluctantly agrees to attend the date mixer after Anjali reminds her that Maya owes her for her hair catastrophe from the earlier competition. At the date mixer, Maya asks Anjali to be her safety net in case no one bids on her, but Anjali is so distracted in spending time with Ronak that she forgets.

Chaos continues when Anjali bursts into tears after receiving an email from the administration department. They just informed her that she has been placed on academic probation, leading Maya to realize that she never took the exam for Anjali. Anjali’s mother then forces her to leave the dance team, and Maya takes over as female lead. 

Anjali discovers online that Maya and Ronak have gotten quite close. To make matters worse, Maya unwittingly exposes Anjali’s reasons for no longer being the lead dancer online, infuriating Anjali. The two argue, and in the heat of the moment, Maya finally reveals the real reason Anajli got the lead in the first place. She finally expresses her view that she has worked harder than Anjali, yet Anjali is given things handed to her. Maya and Anjali, distraught, call off their friendship, and Maya subsequently leaves the dance team as well.

Finding Their Way Back Through Choreo

During the semester break, the two ponder their broken sisterhood and grieve their lives without each other. When they return, Nirbhay persuades Maya to return for the final challenge, and Anjali eventually rejoins after figuring out a way to manage her classes better. Maya and Anjali take on leading roles together in the final performance. Their dance represents their progress, strength, unity, and, most importantly, the pair’s sisterhood. In a full-circle moment — and a callback to the film’s opening montage — the two celebrate their reunion and performance by eating at Taco Bell! 

Best of the Best tells a story communicated through dance, as seen in the final performance between Maya and Anjali, and how their bond can withstand any uncertainty or trial. The film highlights the negative aspects of co-dependency and self-comparison in friendships, as well as the need to build an identity outside of a relationship, regardless of its closeness. Ultimately, Best of the Best is a heartfelt comedy, and the dialogue and scenes create real-life reflections of young people navigating college while making the best of each situation.

Want to learn more about Netflix’s The Best of The Best? Check out “Everything You Need to Know Before Netflix’s Best of the Best‘s Premiere!”