Hasan Minhaj did not rely only on old college memories when he wrote Best of the Best. He went back to Bollywood dance competitions in disguise. The comedian described his research outfit as a “baseball cap, COVID mask, super thick parka, hood on.”
The plan let Minhaj sit in the stands without becoming the center of attention. He could watch the teams, friends and families react to the competition around them. That material helped him and co-writer Prashanth Venkataramanujam build a movie about students who take Bollywood-fusion dance as seriously as any college sport.
Their own college years started the idea
Minhaj and Venkataramanujam both remembered competitive Bollywood dance teams at their universities. They were struck by the mix of pressure and comedy around students who were also training for careers in medicine, engineering and finance.
That contrast became the setting for Best of the Best. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan plays Maya and Priyanka Kedia plays Anjali, childhood friends who join UCLA’s Bollywood-fusion team and chase a place at the U.S. championships. The competition tests their friendship as practices, rivalries and personal expectations pile up.
Minhaj has called the film a love letter to South Asian students whose college years gave them a new way to celebrate their culture. The dance floor lets the characters be ambitious, funny and uncertain without asking them to explain every part of their background to the audience.
Minhaj also plays a professor in the movie
The writer appears on screen as professor Hamza Latif. The role connects him to the students without making the movie his story. Ramakrishnan and Kedia remain the leads, while Lena Khan directs the ensemble.
The cast also includes Chaneil Kular, Ankur Rathee, Lilly Singh, Janina Gavankar, Sasha Bhasin and Saara Chaudry. Netflix lists the film at 1 hour 52 minutes with a PG-13 rating in the United States. It began streaming on September 18.
His ideal dinner party has another ensemble
The Netflix conversation that revealed the disguise also asked Minhaj to build his ideal dinner party. His guest list included Michelle Buteau, Ilana Glazer, Ramy Youssef, Trevor Noah, Mindy Kaling and Michelle Obama. He said his wife, Beena, would be the real host and that their families’ enchiladas would be on the table.
The list creates another large group of strong personalities who would trade stories and tease each other around one table. For the movie, Minhaj found that energy in college dance teams and then did the extra work to watch them without being recognized.
