Ankur Rathee credits Best of the Best for opening doors in the international market

Ankur Rathee on Best of the Best: ‘Ironic that I had to go to Hollywood to do a very Bollywood-type role’

04 November,2026 07:45 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  Letty Mariam Abraham

Ankur Rathee says his Hollywood debut Best of the Best gave him greater visibility and opened doors to opportunities beyond the Indian entertainment market. The actor reflects on how the project helped expand his international reach

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An audition over a video call and some fun banter with Maitreyi Ramakrishnan helped Ankur Rathee land the role of Ronak in Netflix’s coming-of-age drama Best of the Best. The actor sees the opportunity as a manifestation of his desire to explore Hollywood projects, one that came about organically. “I had five rounds of auditions for this role. The final audition round was the producer session with the investors, Lena [Khan, director], studio executives, and Hasan Minaj [actor and producer],” says Rathee, who was shooting for Four More Shots Please! in Bangkok when he received the call. He credits his chemistry read with Ramakrishnan for sealing the deal.

“Maitreyi and I ended up having a great banter and chemistry. We were really riffing off each other. At one point, we went off-book, improvised lines, and started playing the scene and improvising together. It was a great session,” he recalls.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Ankur Rathee in ‘Best of the Best’

While Best of the Best revolves around the friendship between Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia’s characters, Rathee says his role went beyond that of a conventional love interest. “I was the only person who had both a romantic relationship with Priyanka’s character and a strong takkar with Maitreyi’s character. Not only am I there as a love interest, but I’m pushing and propelling the story forward in a big way. For an actor, that is such a blessing because you get to do so much in a small amount of time,” he says.

The film has also expanded his reach beyond Indian audiences. “Best of the Best was a Hollywood film about South Asians, but it wasn’t made only for an Indian audience. On the platform, the world has been watching the movie. Indian filmmakers got a chance to see me in a different light. It’s ironic that I had to go all the way to Hollywood to do a very Bollywood-type role,” he reflects.

Did you know?

AR Rahman composed a special track, ‘Aamaasee’, for the film as an homage to lead actor Maitreyi Ramakrishnan‘s Tamil heritage

What’s next

Rathee is shooting for the second season of ‘Single Papa’, alongside Kunal Kemmu and Prajakta Koli. He also has a Hollywood project lined up, which will go on floors after he wraps up ‘Single Papa 2′

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