‘Indian Matchmaking’s Smriti Mundhra Teams With Hasan Minhaj On Docuseries ‘Bollywood Dance U’

EXCLUSIVE: Smriti Mundhra, creator of Netflix’s reality series Indian Matchmaking, has partnered with Hasan Minhaj on Bollywood Dance U, a documentary series set in the world of competitive collegiate Bollywood fusion dance teams, which is set to premiere on the comedian’s YouTube channel on September 23.

Created and directed by Mundhra and produced by Emmy winner Joe Lewis (100 Foot Wave), the series follows two rival Texas teams in search of a championship title at the national dance competition known as Legends. Check out a trailer above.

Minhaj, who narrates the four episodes, exec produced alongside Prashanth Venkataramanujam under his 186K Films banner. The series is produced by Mundhra, Maya Gnyp and Nina Aujla for Meralta Films along with Lewis, Rachel Eggebeen and Colin Miller for Amplify Pictures, and financed by Amplify Pictures and 30WEST.

News of the project follows the recent Netflix premiere of 186K’s debut feature Best of the Best, a comedy set on the collegiate Bollywood-fusion dance circuit that is co-written, produced by and stars Minhaj. 186K Films produced the flick alongside Rideback.

Minhaj told Deadline, “I cannot tell you how excited Prashanth and I are to be partnering with Smriti and her producing team to bring this incredible documentary to a wide audience. Smriti is a visionary director, and we’re so excited to be able to share her work with the world.”

Amplify Pictures CEO Lewis told us, “Smriti Mundhra has an unmatched eye for the drama, humor and heart inside the Bollywood Fusion dance world. Hasan Minhaj is the dream narrator and having him as EP is incredible — he’s hilarious and knows this world from the inside. Bollywood Dance U living on YouTube feels exactly right for a show about students today, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be doing it alongside Meralta, 30WEST and 186K.”

Added Trevor Groth, Executive Vice President at 30WEST: “Smriti Mundhra and Joe Lewis and their teams at Meralta and Amplify are two of the most powerful forces in documentary storytelling today, and we’ve been proud partners with them since day one on this inspiring series. Hasan Minhaj is the perfect collaborator to bring it into the world, and there’s no better home for it than YouTube, where his massive audience will discover these incredible subjects and fall for them the way we have.”

A DGA Award winner, two-time Academy Award nominee and three-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, Mundhra is best known as the creator, director and EP of Netflix’s popular reality dating series Indian Matchmaking, as well as spin-offs Jewish Matchmaking and Muslim Matchmaker (for Hulu). She comes to Bollywood Dance U with a history exploring this space, having created and directed Netflix’s Bollywood history doc The Romantics.

Mundhra’s first feature, A Suitable Girl, won Best New Director at the 2017 Tribeca Festival, and her breakout short, St. Louis Superman, was Oscar-nominated in 2020 and acquired by MTV Documentary Films. Her second Oscar nomination came in 2025 for the death row docu short I Am Ready, Warden. Her episodic directing credits include Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever and the Humanitas Prize-winning The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh. She is repped by WME, Curate and Granderson Des Rochers.

Peabody Award-winning comedian-actor Minhaj founded 186K Films alongside Venkataramanujam in 2021. The company produces the ongoing weekly podcast Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know and has also produced Minhaj’s Netflix specials The King’s Jester and Off With His Head. Minhaj is repped by WME and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.