If you have been a fan of Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and her hit show “Never Have I Ever”, Best of the Best feels like nothing but an extension of Devi’s life in college, except that this time around her name is Maya. Anjali and Maya have been best friends since childhood. They are beautiful dancers. Sadly, Maya becomes infamous when a drone hits her during their duet performance. In college, they decide to join UCLA Agni, a Bollywood-fusion dance team. The stakes are high as the team eyes winning the competition “Best of the Best”. Maya is fierce and opinionated and gives ideas that can actually make the group win the competition. However, her ideas aren’t really taken into consideration, and the group chooses an easygoing Anjali to lead the theme of “Bollywood Shaadis”. An accident caused unintentionally by Maya and an academic probation (also unintentionally caused by Maya) force Anjali to quit the group and be replaced by Maya as the lead. The catch is that originally it was Maya who was chosen to lead, but team heads found her difficult to deal with. With so much chaos and Maya’s involvement with team Captain Ronak, on whom Anjali was crushing hard, will UCLA Agni win Best of the Best, or will their dreams be crushed like the drone that hit Maya?
When you start watching Best of the Best, you are filled with hopes. You will see peppy Bollywood dance numbers playing in the background, some really good foot-tapping performances by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Priyanka Kedia, and the rest of the cast. But slowly and steadily, you will see how Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s character Maya is nothing but a continuation of Devi. Even the clichés are so similar that you cannot help but recall the past. Maya lands herself and her friends in trouble, isn’t as simple to get along with, and is also the best at what she does, just like Devi. It is as if the makers didn’t really think far. They wrote the character without keeping Maitreyi Ramakrishnan in mind. Rather, they kept Devi in mind and created a clone of her who goes by a different name. They also showed a weird fight between two American teenagers from rival dance groups in a heavily English-accented Hindi. I am not sure what the point was of keeping that scene or even writing it, but okay, we can choose to ignore that.
The plot of Best of the Best is highly predictable. And no, that is not a bad thing for once because this is just one of those feel-good movies that you watch to get a break from all the reality stuff happening around you. Would you like watching it again? I don’t think so. The plot is such that it is easily forgettable.
When it comes to acting and dancing, the cast does a great job. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan has outperformed herself with all the locks and the pops she has shown us. Priyanka Kedia also looks great with her moves. There are loads of songs that are running in the background, and I must say, the makers did choose “Best of the Best” Bollywood songs in the movie that go well with the theme.
The pacing is good. Even though the plot is already known, the pace is fast, so you won't really feel bored. So all in all, if you have been a fan of Never Have I Ever and wanted to know what Devi’s life could be like, tune in to “Best of the Best” to see what Maya does. Other than that, you can watch it if you want to feel good and if you are a fan of Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Ch
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times