Abhiroop Das
Directed by Lena Khan, Netflix’s ‘Best of the Best’ peeks into the competitive world of South Asian collegiate dance through the eyes of two prodigies, Maya and Anjali. Joined at the hip since they were little, Maya and Anjali find their true test at UCLA, with the college’s iconic dance team, UCLA Agni, giving their all to bag the year’s Best of the Best championship. They are not the only ones after the coveted title, however, as their staunch rivals, and last year’s winners, USC Tamasha, also have new tricks up their sleeves. As the two titans collide in this coming-of-age dance movie, the intersection of youth and culture gives way to truly profound art.
UCLA Agni and USC Tamasha Are Fictional Stand-ins For Real Collegiate Dance Teams
UCLA Agni and USC Tamasha are fictional dance teams created by Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam for ‘Best of the Best.’ In real life, the University of California, Los Angeles’ Bollywood fusion dance team is named UCLA Nashaa, whereas the University of Southern California’s dance team is named USC Zeher, not Tamasha. Instead of fitting real team names into the movie, the writing team opted to create a fictionalized world, as it not only allows for greater creative freedom but also broadens the scope of inspirations, turning the teams into a composite of many real-life counterparts.
When conceptualizing the dance teams, Minhaj and Venkataramanujam largely drew from their personal experiences of attending dance competitions when they were in college. For Minhaj, Bollywood-themed dance competitions and championships are a staple of the South Asian college experience, and that informed his and Venkataramanujam’s creative direction when creating a coming-of-age story. As such, UCLA Agni and USC Tamasha are designed first and foremost to capture the spirit and aesthetics of such dance teams, and their connection to their respective real-life universities is limited at best.
UCLA Nashaa Won the Real-Life Best of the Best Competition in 2012
While UCLA Agni may not be a direct recreation of UCLA Nashaa, there are some clear parallels between the two that are hard to ignore. For one, team UCLA Nashaa actually won the 7th Best of the Best championship in 2012. With director Lena Khan confirming that the film’s title is meant to be an homage to the real Best of the Best, it is entirely possible that the writing team integrated a few details about the real-life UCLA team into their creative construct. That said, the actual routines, team members, and plot beats that make up UCLA Agni are still firmly rooted in fiction.
Another detail that makes teams like UCLA Agni and USC Tamasha feel so realistic comes from the accounts of former UCLA Nashaa dancer Nitasha Khanna. In a piece by Super Lawyers, Khanna recalled practicing in UCLA’s underground parking lots because the team often couldn’t find a room large enough for everyone. Describing the dance team’s signature style, she added, “We’d take snippets from multiple songs, and sometimes even incorporate our own storyline into the dance routine.” During her time on the team, she also participated in collegiate events co-hosted by UCLA and USC, which further contextualizes why the two teams’ fictional counterparts, in the form of Agni and Tamasha, take center stage in ‘Best of the Best.’
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