The Royals review
Cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Sakshi Tanwar, Vihaan Samat, Lisa Mishra, Kavya Trehan, Udit Arora, Sumukhi Suresh, Dino Morea, Nora Fatehi, Milind Soman, Chunky Panday, and Zeenat Aman
Directors: Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana
Rating: ★★★.5
The Royals, Netflix India’s most out-and-out mainstream rom-com, ticks off all the boxes in the genre. It is fun, glamorous, scandalous, and at times even raunchy. Yet, despite all that, The Royals has heart too. It is filled with real emotion, brought to the screen quite ably by its giant ensemble cast. Add to it a touch of royal opulence, and the show fills a void in Hindi entertainment, where Bollywood meets Bridgerton, and quite fabulously. The Royals is not perfect by any means. It has its cracks and flaws, but despite them, directors Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana manage to conjure a fun ride that is a much-needed clutter-breaker in the loaded OTT slate of India. (Also read: Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar open up about working together in The Royals, and how trolling is now ‘people’s pastime’)
What is The Royals about?
The erstwhile royal family of Morpur is in peril. Maharaja Yuvnath Singh (Milind Soman) is no more, and he has left it all to his son, Aviraaj (Ishaan Khatter). But Aviraaj aka Fizzy wants nothing to do with royal responsibilities and wants to return to his modelling career in New York. But he is forced to stay back by his mother, Rani Padmaja (Sakshi Tanwar), as the Morpurs have no money. And hence, they are forced to partner with a start-up that wants to start a ‘royal B&B’ in the palace. The company’s CEO, Sophia (Bhumi Pednekar), clashes with Aviraaj, but the clashes see sparks flying.
What works
The Royals is a classic rom-com in which the hero and heroine go through a hate-to-love arc while also discovering themselves in the process. The show’s characters feel real, and that is a big victory in itself. It doesn’t lose this realness even when the characters live in palaces, travel in Bentleys, and wear diamonds worth crores. All that is just adornment.
The humour is the show’s USP. The comedy is situational and, at times, even clever. The lines are witty, and the dialogue is very Gen Z. Even small characters who appear in just one odd scene get their chance to shine, such as the auctioner trying to convince Aviraaj to sell his Rolls-Royce with the Bentley as a package deal.
What separates The Royals from run-of-the-mill shows is how seriously it takes itself and its protagonists despite the frivolity of all. Yes, there is banter and on-the-nose jokes on royalty and the corporate world. But the story knows that these are living, breathing human beings, and it allows them to grow as such. It helps that Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar bring out their A-game as well. Ishaan is very much likeable as the a**hole maharaja and even more likeable when his character discovers his flaws. In the emotional scenes, he knocks it out of the park. Bhumi is every bit as effortless herself. The actor shows that she can play the urban boss girl just as flawlessly as she portrays the tier-2 city girl. With Sophia, she brings a mixture of strength, confidence, doubt, and vulnerability that makes her perfectly relatable.
The casting is so on point that it wins half the battle for the show. Sakshi Tanwar as the queen who loves her diamonds and expensive art is fabulous. She brings out the opulence and decadence in royalty quite beautifully. Zeenat Aman as the queen mother adds oodles of charm and wit to it. Her screen presence and comic timing have only gotten better since we last saw her years ago.
But it’s the support cast that stands out for me, particularly Lisa Mishra as Bhumi’s Girl Friday. The chemistry between the two screams BFFs, firmly rooting the show. Her delivery and expressions reel the audience in. The other two stand-out performers are Vihaan Samat and Kavya Trehan, who play Ishaan’s younger siblings. Both are fortunate to have received parts that allow them to show that modern royals are more than just galas and tiaras. But to their credit, they bring that humanity to these characters with earnest performances. The high-profile cameos – Nora Fatehi, Dino Morea, and Chunky Panday – are good to fill in the ranks, but sadly, the show doesn’t give them any ammo to do much. Like the Morpurs, woh kuch karte nahi, bas hain!
Where The Royals lacks
The Royals has its fair share of flaws. It does threaten to go over the top every once in a while, even though it doesn’t need to. Yet again, it betrays Bollywood’s understanding of how startups and CEOs work. I long to see a non-TVF show that knows how real ordinary people live and work. But the biggest crime The Royals commits is how it treats Maharaja Yuvnath. Milind Soman’s character is integral to Aviraaj’s conflict, his siblings’ identity crises, and Padmaja’s lack of aim in life. And hence, the show needs to show what he meant to all of them. Yet, (spoilers!), Milind Soman gets a grand total of 2 minutes’ screentime over 8 episodes. The show fails to connect us with the character, and as a result, does injustice to the other protagonists’ memory of him.
But The Royals is a breath of fresh air, despite its flaws. I see it as that imperfect friend who has his hang-ups but still guarantees a good time every time you meet them. And, woh dil ka acha hai. The Royals has its heart in the right place and is a bundle of fun. And for that alone, minor flaws can be overlooked
