This month’s streaming picks provide a variety of pleasures, from tangled romances and murder mysteries to arranged-marriage chaos and a gangster’s cinematic ambitions.
Best of the Best (English) Netflix
Netflix’s Best of the Best is a vibrant, high-energy collegiate comedy that knows exactly what it wants to be: a crowd-pleaser. The story follows childhood best friends Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia) through their freshman year at UCLA, where they unexpectedly dive into the cutthroat world of competitive Bollywood-fusion dance. What follows is a lively mix of academic pressure, shifting friendships, big ambitions and, of course, spectacular choreography. Writers Hasan Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam draw on their own college experiences and research into the competitive South Asian dance circuit at their respective universities, giving the film a genuine insider feel.
They clearly know this world well — the rivalries, the elaborate costumes, the dance politics, and the sheer amount of effort that goes into a three-minute routine. And the choreography is the real star. The routines are inventive and beautifully executed, moving from classical Bharatanatyam to raw, high-energy hip-hop krumping without missing a beat. One of the standouts, a wildly imaginative routine built around a character named Selena, manages to fold climate-change commentary into the spectacle without killing the fun.
The story moves at a brisk clip, with jokes coming almost as fast as the dance moves. It’s not perfect — a little more backstory would have helped — but there’s so much happening that it’s easy to go along for the ride. In fact, the world feels big enough to sustain a multi-episode series, giving these characters more space to evolve. There are plenty of cultural details to enjoy, from the Kohinoor reference to the film’s affectionate winks at Bollywood. But at its heart, Best of the Best is a warm, funny story about friendship, ambition, and finding your people. It’s thoroughly entertaining — and by the end you may wish the dance team had one more routine in them.
Eyes (Malayalam) SonyLiv
Manu Ashokan’s Eyes is a gripping psychological thriller that takes the familiar crime drama in an unsettling new direction. Instead of asking who committed a crime, it asks whether we can stop one before it happens. Written by Bobby–Sanjay, the seven-episode series follows a Kerala Police task force, called EYES, which uses AI-powered surveillance to track repeat stalkers and prevent further harm. What begins as a promising tech-driven crime thriller soon becomes a tense exploration of privacy, obsession, and just how much power we should hand over to technology. The performances are a major strength. Kani Kusruti is compelling as Tina Sebastian, a tough, no-nonsense police officer, while Nikhila Vimal brings warmth and empathy to Ayesha, the psychologist who believes in rehabilitation rather than punishment alone.
Their clash over how to deal with stalkers gives the series much of its emotional weight. The cases also hit close to home, as some members of the EYES team have experienced unwanted attention themselves. Spanning different social and economic backgrounds, the cases offer a glimpse into the many forms stalking and control can take. One particularly challenging case involves an IAS officer accused of controlling his wife, who comes from a prominent political family. The team must grapple with a thorny question: is the seemingly upright officer hiding a darker side behind his respectable image, or is his wife a spoilt, entitled woman accustomed to getting her way? The uncertainty keeps both the investigators and viewers guessing. Eyes is a tense, thought-provoking watch that stays with you beyond its final episode.
Musafiri (Hindi/English) Youtube
As someone who proudly and stubbornly belongs to Bombay (not Mumbai), watching Richa Chadha’s Musafiri felt like coming home to a city that I always knew existed, though it’s rarely celebrated. In an age dominated by superficial social media reels and 15-second travel influencers chasing “aesthetic” cafes, Musafiri is a breath of fresh (and not so fresh) air. The charming Richa Chaddha keeps the narrative flowing beautifully with a playful, effortless voiceover. She says she wants to document the city for her young daughter, infusing the series with a deep tenderness. This isn’t a commercial tourist guide; it’s a time capsule.
For those who are passionate about history and the bylanes that give a city its true character, the show is a goldmine. I was delighted to discover hidden gems like the Armenian Church and, most strikingly, Gilbert Hill in Andheri. Learning that this 200-foot monolith column of black basalt rock was formed 66 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era — when molten lava spilled from Earth’s clefts — blew me away. Knowing that this rare geological phenomenon survived the massive volcanic eruptions that wiped out prehistoric life, only for nearby clusters in surrounding areas to be quarried away just decades ago, makes its preservation feel urgent.
Musafiri succeeds because it respects the past while capturing the present. It understands that a city isn’t just made of concrete, but of the layers of history left behind. For anyone who loves deep-dive travel, rich history, and the authentic pulse of a city, Chadha’s film is a triumph.
Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar (Malayalam) Netflix
If Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar has a whiff of Drishyam, you won’t be far off. There’s the accidental death, the cover-up, the cat-and-mouse investigation, and the increasingly ingenious attempts to stay one step ahead of the law. But swap Mohanlal or Ajay Devgn for Parvathy Thiruvothu, and the equation changes considerably. Parvathy is fantastic as Aleena Abraham, a rookie police officer caught in a situation that threatens to destroy the family she desperately wants to protect. What makes her character particularly compelling is that she doesn’t need a man to swoop in and save the day. Aleena is the strategist, the protector, and ultimately the one who must outthink the system closing in around her. She is not simply reacting to events; she is anticipating them, building her own escape routes, and playing a dangerous game with an experienced investigator.
That shift in perspective gives this familiar thriller premise a welcome freshness. Parvathy brings a convincing mix of vulnerability, intelligence, and steely resolve, making her much more than a female version of a familiar cinematic hero. The storytelling is tight, too. Director Shahad Nilambur keeps the investigation moving, steadily raising the stakes as the police officers’ cover-up begins to unravel. The plot does stretch credibility in places, and its elaborate maneuvers may require viewers to suspend disbelief. But the film’s brisk pace and carefully planted twists keep the momentum going, building towards a final reveal that gives Aleena the last word. Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar may borrow some familiar ingredients from the crime-thriller playbook, but Parvathy’s performance and a woman taking charge of her family’s fate make it worth watching.
Baisakhi Roy is the editor of Canadian Immigrant. Her work has appeared in leading Canadian media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and CBC. She specializes in stories at the intersection of immigrant life and culture in Canada, with a strong focus on workplace issues and diversity.