In Netflix’s collegiate Bollywood dance film Best of the Best, director Lena Khan, choreographers Phillip Chbeeb, Makenzie Dustman, and Joya Kazi, and cinematographer Adam Carboni execute a high-stakes narrative through complex fusion dance numbers, mapping the emotional journeys of characters like freshman Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) directly onto the stage choreography.
The Bottom Line
- The Creative Team: Directed by Lena Khan with a sharp script by Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam.
- The Method: The production tracked macro-level character relationship arcs onto individual dance numbers using detailed Google Sheets and PowerPoints.
- The Visual Style: Cinematographer Adam Carboni utilized hard-rigged camera mounts and optical illusions instead of relying purely on scale.
Mapping the Macro Drama Onto the Stage
Whether or not you once kept a picture of Shah Rukh Khan hidden away, Best of the Best features roughly a dozen brilliantly clever highlights that instantly plunge audiences deep into the frantic and emotionally charged realm of collegiate Bollywood dance competitions.
Yet perhaps the finest instance occurs when Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s character, the boldly creative freshman Maya, pushes back against the notion that UCLA’s troupe ought to adopt a Bollywood wedding motif for the upcoming Best of the Best Bollywood dance competition. There is more to Indian culture than Bollywood clichés, after all. It is expected and extra.
Team Captain Ronak, played by Ankur Rathee, shoots back that extra is the point. To be extra is to be alive, and to be really feeling the emotions you feel. And Bollywood, even at its most clichéd and nostalgic, is a celebration of that. So is Best of the Best, coming together through a lively fusion of different dance styles, traditions, sensibilities, and even some fantastic drone work that is prone to malfunction on poor Maya.
Here is the kicker: bringing this script to life was a monumental challenge for the filmmakers. Crafted by Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam, the brilliant screenplay needed to provide enough space for the Netflix movie’s dance numbers to fulfill the promises made by the script, all without restricting the creative freedom of the future director, dancers, and choreographers. They had to hope the filmmaking team could actually cash the check.
Director Lena Khan and her crew accomplished this feat relying in part on comprehensive PowerPoint presentations and extensive Google Sheets charts. Every sequence had to look impressive, be completed in a single or double take due to the movie’s rapid-fire shooting schedule, and captivate both novices and die-hard fans of Bollywood fusion dance. Additionally, Khan wanted audiences to be able to follow the emotional arcs of Maya and her closest confidante Anjali, portrayed by Priyanka Kedia, strictly through the choreography. The whole dramatic arc of the movie had to fit on a stage.
As Khan explained to IndieWire, “So we had this line graph of the journeys of every major relationship or team in the film. It’s UCLA’s journey. It’s Maya and Anjali’s journey. Anjali and Ronak. The bottom of the graph was each dance, and there was a line graph of how they’re moving in those relationships and how we’re representing it. And, of course, Maya and Anjali’s journey takes the most atypical route because they’re going from codependency to attachment issues to attention to having a healthier, more loving and supportive relationship.”
Choreography as Dialogue and Direction
To translate that overarching progression into individual routines, Khan collaborated with choreographers Phillip Chbeeb, Makenzie Dustman, and Joya Kazi to find physical movements that could articulate the unspoken emotions of the characters.
Shifts in technique, alterations in choreography, or even an overly enthusiastic fog machine concealed inside a fake tiger help drive the narrative forward and trigger pivotal shifts in how the characters relate to one another.
As Khan noted to IndieWire, “I was excited at the opportunity that you can tell this story through dance. I told our music supervisor Kier Lehman that I wanted to be able to listen to this movie. You should be able to tell the story and the relationships and the feelings through the movement, and the music.”
Working in close partnership, Lehman and Khan prioritized the music to develop dynamic dance remixes that felt fresh and contemporary while lovingly honoring every facet of South Asian culture and the South Asian American experience. Maintaining a high level of energy and fun, the routines needed to avoid feeling disconnected from the characters’ emotional truths the way a standard music video might.
Engineering the Visuals Behind the Dance Floor
This required deep collaboration between the choreography team and the camera team. Cinematographer Adam Carboni told IndieWire, “We couldn’t just throw scale at every dance and expect it to be compelling. Instead, we brainstormed ways to create unexpected moments using optical illusions, hard-rigged camera mounts, mirror reflect”
| Creative Role | Key Contributor(s) | Core Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Lena Khan | Overall narrative arcs, emotional line graphs, and musical integration |
| Screenwriters | Hasan Minhaj, Prashanth Venkataramanujam | Setting up narrative prompts for the dance sequences |
| Choreography Team | Phillip Chbeeb, Makenzie Dustman, Joya Kazi | Translating subtext and relationship milestones into movement |
| Cinematography | Adam Carboni | Utilizing hard-rigged mounts, optical illusions, and drone work |
| Music Supervision | Kier Lehman | Crafting vital, culturally resonant dance remixes |
The production’s meticulous planning ensures that the film’s set-pieces function less as traditional musical interludes and more as crucial narrative turning points. By anchoring every beat of the choreography to emotional stakes, the creative team delivered a high-energy collegiate dance film that honors the complexities of modern South Asian American identity.
