Best of the Best is a reminder of how much we need more mainstream films about brown girls. While it doesn’t quite have the lasting power of Bend It Like Beckham, and there are some clunky narrative issues that won’t quite elevate it to a dance version of Pitch Perfect, it’s enjoyable and it actually does explore aspects of the Indian girl experience that may be overlooked.
Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia) are childhood best friends who share a love of dance. Initially, both are hesitant about joining a Bollywood-fusion dance team at UCLA – Anjali has academic struggles and Maya’s still recovering from a dance-drone incident – but after watching the team perform they both look at it as a chance to start anew. I’m familiar with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan because of Never Have I Ever (great show, please watch), and this movie is just a reminder of what a comedic force she is. She knows how to deliver the punchlines, land the jokes, and looks absolutely effervescent through it all. As Maya, she’s basically the maverick that breathes life and creativity into the stale ways of the dance team (like I said, very Pitch Perfect-esque). It may be puzzling to for us to see someone as beautiful as Maya not be seen as such, but this is very much the Indian beauty standards all us brown girls have to reckon with. Anjali is tall, slim and has such petite delicate features, and while Maya is gorgeous, in the community their beauty isn’t even remotely comparable.
As a brown girl who looks more like Maya than Anjali, I know that feeling all too well. When I was travelling around Italy, it was my tall and fair Indian friend who got the serenades and the beauty compliments. I spent most of my life learning to love my face and my body, and I can’t even confidently say I do so even now. One of the most powerful moments in the film is when Anjali actually realises the baggage Maya has had to carry all the years of their friendship. The film also asserts that it’s important for us brown girls not to internalise victimhood. If we never see ourselves as worthy of more, then we will never fight for the opportunities that come our way. Life doles out a certain disparity, and raging about the unfairness of it all won’t get us anywhere.
The film’s focus is really on the friendship and sisterhood of Maya and Anjali, and that’s where it excels, but other narrative points feel underbaked as a result. Maya’s romance with Arjun (Chaneil Kular) doesn’t feel earned; suddenly there’s feelings there and we’re not sure why besides them being good looking people. Anjali and her mom have a whole subplot going on, but there isn’t enough believable mother-daughter energy for me to be invested. Believe me, I know Asian mom slaps, and that slap barely registers on the hand slap Richter scale. The dance scenes look alright, not everyone can make dance look dynamic on screen the way Kenny Ortega can and that’s okay. I just wish they were more memorable; I still watch Dancing with the Stars performances that I utterly enjoyed, while I can’t say I’ll do the same for Best of the Best.
Best of the Best is not really best of the best, but it’s a much-needed step. Hopefully it paves the way for even better stories about us brown girls.
Review screener provided.
REVIEW SCORE: 3.5/5
