This week, Becky welcomes director Lena Khan (The Tiger Hunter, Flora & Ulysses) to talk about her new Netflix film, Best of the Best — a raucous comedy set in the cutthroat world of collegiate Bollywood dance competitions. It stars once-in-a-generation talent Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever), is co-written and produced by the brilliant Hasan Minhaj, and hits Netflix this Friday, September 18th.
Lena takes Becky back to what actually inspired her to become a filmmaker — after starting at UCLA as an engineering major, before Don Cheadle's unwitting influence convinced her to pivot to film. They chat about Lena's first movie, The Tiger Hunter, starring Danny Pudi and inspired by her own family's story, a path she ultimately pursued with encouragement from her colleagues at Participant Films. Then it's on to Best of the Best: what it actually takes to make a dance movie, and how she told Maitreyi Ramakrishnan that all she had to do was "become Channing Tatum" — which led to seven hours of dance lessons a day for her star.
Finally, during the "Last Looks" segment, Lena and Becky bond over their shared love of many things, but especially the Steve Martin/Nora Ephron classic My Blue Heaven, and the perfection that is Friday Night Lights.
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Host: Becky Sloviter
Guest: Lena Khan - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3414572/
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