Ramakrishnan earned her role

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan auditioned for Best of the Best despite creator Hasan Minhaj's confidence in her. She wanted to prove she could transition from the snappy sitcom pacing of Never Have I Ever to the emotional depth required for a feature film.

“Please include that Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was not just offered this role. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan worked!”

A lockdown passion project

Hasan Minhaj and writing partner Prashanth Venkataramanujam created Best of the Best during pandemic lockdown as their answer to the Step Up franchise. The film hits Netflix on September 18.

Filling the void after Never Have I Ever

Best of the Best reunites Ramakrishnan with director Lena Khan and choreographer Joya Kazi from Never Have I Ever, which ended in 2023 after four seasons. For fans wanting to see Devi go to college, this film offers a suitable alternative.

Maya is that bitch

Ramakrishnan plays Maya, a UCLA freshman who challenges her childhood best friend Anjali when they both join the school's competitive Bollywood dance team. Unlike Devi's complicated relationship with her culture, Maya is supremely confident in her Bollywood supremacy.

“Maya is that bitch.”

Priyanka Kedia as Anjali

Indian-American actor Priyanka Kedia, fresh from Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, plays Anjali, the poised social butterfly to Maya's headstrong rebel. Their lifelong friendship is tested when they compete for parts on the dance team.

Why Minhaj chose Ramakrishnan

Minhaj saw in Ramakrishnan two essential qualities: natural comedic brilliance and emotional depth. He cited her work in seasons three and four of Never Have I Ever as proof she could balance humor with the pathos the role demanded.

“there is an emotional depth, that pathos that she has. I was like, there's no other number one for this film than her.”

Joya Kazi's friendship goes back

Choreographer Joya Kazi, who went to college with Minhaj at UC Davis, also had to audition despite their long friendship. Minhaj recused himself from her interview to let her credentials speak for themselves.

“The friendship is real. It goes back to the second Bush Administration.”

Ramakrishnan's training boot camp

Despite never being a professional dancer, Ramakrishnan trained six hours a day for four months. She learned Bharatnatyam, Kathak, contemporary, hip-hop, heels, and groove to convincingly play a lifelong dancer.

Bollywood dance is fusion

The term Bollywood dance is misleading. Best of the Best showcases fusion styles reflecting real trends where classically trained Bharatnatyam dancers blend traditional movements with krumping and breaking.

The Poonam and Priyanka Shah effect

Sister duo Poonam and Priyanka Shah went viral a decade ago performing Bfusion routines blending Bharatnatyam with contemporary moves. Their work inspired a generation of South Asian diaspora dancers creating new cultural identities.

Hip-hop and Bollywood collide

The film's soundtrack samples early 2000s hip-hop by Timbaland and Dr. Dre that originally sampled Bollywood. One sequence features Truth Hurts' Addictive battling the 1969 Hindi song it sampled, Thoda Resham Lagta Hai.

Breaking down South Asian silos

Best of the Best features a cast from all South Asian regions, breaking monolithic representations. In America, political and language barriers that separate Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka become irrelevant.

“This is a rare opportunity where all of us from the diaspora can reconcile a lot of paradoxes that we couldn't necessarily participate in if we were to do this film in India.”

Ramakrishnan's Tamil Eelam identity

When Maya introduces herself, she says she's Tamil from Sri Lanka, not Tamil Nadu. This specificity honors Ramakrishnan's Eelam Tamil heritage and the genocide her family fled in 2009 after a 25-year civil war.

“I'm Tamil. My family's from Sri Lanka.”

Activism runs in her family

Ramakrishnan's activist parents brought her to Toronto protests calling for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Last year she attended a No Tyrants rally in Vancouver holding a sign that read, Never Have I Ever Thought Genocide Was OK.

Kuthu dance at the frat party

Ramakrishnan and Kedia perform Kuthu, a high-energy Tamil folk dance, at a frat party. Kuthu isn't taught in professional studios but learned at family functions, much like Bhangra at weddings.

“A lot of people over time have seen Kuthu as lower-class rowdy street dance.”

The Koh-i-Noor in the finale

The climactic dance sequence takes place on a stage decorated like a museum with colonial artifacts. It incorporates the Koh-i-Noor, the 105-carat diamond at the center of colonial reparations debates.

Reparations versus moving forward

Minhaj questions whether returning the Koh-i-Noor would meaningfully help South Asia, given that Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan all claim it. He argues the real work is shaping the future independent of colonial symbols.

“Even if the Koh-i-Noor diamond would be returned to us, what does that change for us today?”

Maya embodies what's next

Ramakrishnan, as Maya, steps up in the finale to embody Minhaj's vision of moving forward. Her character represents the voice of what is new and what is to come for the diaspora.

“It only feels right that she's the lead of our film, and the voice of what is new and what is to come.”