Asian American dance competitions are nothing new. The successes of groups like Kaba Modern and Poreotics on older shows like America’s Best Dance Crew in the late 2000’s demonstrates this. But Bollywood-fusion dance teams? That’s new to me and why this trailer to the new movie Best of the Best fascinates me. A quick synopsis from the press release:
Two childhood best friends, Maya and Anjali, join UCLA’s competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team, only to discover that the road to winning the U.S. Championship is far more raucous and cutthroat than they ever imagined.
I really appreciate the Asian Americanness of the movie – the lead characters are definitely American without an accent. We could use more media visibility of Indian Americans who in most ways are just plain American, especially in a time of growing anti-Indian sentiment. The movie features Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. I recognize her from the Mindy Kahling series Never have I Ever. Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam write the movie, which is directed by Lena Khan.
Note that there is an earlier movie from 1989 called Best of the Best. It also includes Asians and Asian Americans but is enjoyable in a completely different way. The Best of the Best premieres on Netflix on September 18.
