Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar lead Netflix’s latest offering, The Royals, created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandi. The eight-episode long show, with each clocking in about 40 minutes, is developed and written by Neha Veena Sharma, and directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana. Intended to be a royal romcom drama between the royalty and a commoner, does the show make for a royal treat for its viewers? Read on to find out…
Story:
Set against the backdrop of the almost crumbling palace of Motibagh in the fictional riyaasat of Morpur in Rajasthan, The Royals follows Sophia Kanmani Shekhar (Bhumi Pednekar) – Founder and CEO of a hospitality startup called Work Potato, who comes up with a new idea for expansion. The idea is that of a Royal B&B which aims to provide commoners with the opportunity to not just stay, wine and dine with members of the royal families, but also to get a taste of their customs and traditions, and be a part of their leisure/recreational activities through curated experiences. She gets a deadline of six months to launch and execute the pilot with the help of her A-team which includes her CFO and Co-Founder Kunal (Udit Arora), her girl Friday and Head of Design Nikki (Lisa Mishra), and her assistant Keertana (Sumukhi Suresh). They zero in on the royal family of Morpur and Motibagh Palace for their pilot.
Enter Aviraaj Singh aka Fizzy (Ishaan Khatter) – the heir (read Maharaja) to the throne of Morpur after the demise of Maharaja Yuvnath Singh (Milind Soman). He’s least interested in being a crowned king because of some unresolved daddy issues, and wants to go back to his modelling career in New York at the first opportunity. Meanwhile, his mother, Maharani Padmaja aka Paddy aka Lily Pad (Sakshi Tanwar) wants him to stay back and take on the responsibilities of a king. His younger brother Digvijay aka Diggy (Vihaan Samat) is a wannabe chef in secret while sister Divyaranjini aka Jinnie (Kavya Trehan) is in closet and struggling to find some purpose in life other than to merely exist. So when the opposite worlds and natures of Sophia and Aviraaj collide, sparks fly with an on-again-off-again romance, amidst the quest to save a crumbling palace and mounting debt left behind in virasat for the royal family of Morpur. Will love find its way in spite of ego clashes and corporate greed? That’s what’s to be found out in the eight-episode series.
Review:
The idea of royalty falling in love with a commoner isn’t new. We’ve witnessed different storylines with familiar tropes earlier, and movies like Zubeida (2001), Eklavya – The Royal Guard (2007), Khubsoorat (2014), and Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (2015) come to the memory, almost immediately, when we think about the premise. Netflix’s other original Mismatched (2020) too isn’t far behind. Even though familiar, they generally make for an easy-breezy, pleasing to the eye watch, if not interesting ones. The same, however, cannot be said about The Royals – the idea of which may have been appealing on paper but when translated to the screen, somehow just didn’t land. The problem lies in the lazily written script and screenplay which refuses to scratch beneath its shiny surface, despite there being enough meat. We’re all for brainless romcoms and dramas without any substance. But there needs to be something in the plot to keep the viewer engaged and interested enough to know what’s coming next. That element is missing in The Royals.
The directors Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana merely seem interested in luring the viewers and misleading them with the grandeur and opulence of the royal family (with outrageously fine clothing and jewellery) on one hand, and immaculate modern-day work wear aesthetics endorsed by unicorn-building start-up founders on the other. After setting the premise and the world building, the director duo has made little effort to make any semblance of a coherent screenplay that will keep you hooked the screen. The writing (by Vishnu Sinha and Iti Agarwal) is borderline lame and boring. A couple of plot points which had the potential to shine (like Diggy’s aspirations to become a chef, or Fizzy’s unresolved issues with his late father) are either rushed, as if an afterthought, or are left underexplored.
The dialogues by Annukampa Harsh do show some spark in a few situations, but they too don’t leave you in splits, primarily because of a lack of built up. At one point, the series just seems to be looking for excuses to involve the royal family members in executing one event after another – from a Polo with the Prince match, to a Romeo and Juliet ball with the royals and commoners, to a full-fledged fashion show/auction with the ensembles of ace designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla. It seems as if the makers padded-up the episodes with events for lack of substance in the script. We stopped expecting things to make sense and started focussing on the lavish clothes and jewellery, or playing a guessing game about the locations at which the different scenes would have been shot. Jaipur’s City Palace, and Bar Palladio are hard to miss (if you’ve visited the city, you’d know).
In terms of the performances, Ishaan Khatter puts his best foot (and abs) forward as a disinterested modern-day Maharaj. His sincere efforts and emotive eyes do shine, when he’s not occupied with taking off his shirt at the drop of the hat (not that we’re complaining). He dances like a dream and gets a comparatively better written character arc. Ishaan tries to do his best even when the screenplay repeatedly betrays him. Bhumi Pednekar, on the other hand, looks great onscreen but something seems off with her dialogue delivery and expressions. It pains us deeply to see an actor who has previously proven her mettle in genre-defining films, barely rising above mediocrity in this series. Ishaan and Bhumi also share some raunchy make-out scenes but the lack of chemistry between them sticks out like a sore thumb. In fact, Ishaan’s chemistry with the horses in the show is way better. The numerous scenes of Ishaan and Bhumi throughout the series fizzle in comparison to a mere 30-something-seconds-long dance sequence between Ishaan and Nora Fatehi in one episode. That, my friends, is what you call chemistry! When you get two brilliant dancers like Nora and Ishaan, at least the makers could’ve utilised them to the fullest. Just when we were warming up to their dreamy moves, the sequence ended.
Sakshi Tanwar is brilliant as the bereaved Maharani with secrets, while Zeenat Aman is a delight to watch on screen as the elder, weed-loving, matriarch. Vihaan Samat shines in the limited scope of his character, while Kavya Trehan and Lisa Mishra put up a decent act. Sumukhi Suresh is completely wasted and her character is merely reduced to a comic relief, rarely making you laugh. Chunky Pandey does well as a fading Bollywood superstar. For some reason, we really enjoyed seeing Dino Morea having the time of his life in the show. There’s barely anything to talk about the music, however, the costume and art departments deserve applauds for getting the memo right. The series ends on a somewhat intriguing cliffhanger, and the next season may have more substance beneath its glittering surface.
Verdict:
In one of the scenes, a character describes the royal family members as those who’d wear sherwanis made in gold, in order to hide their torn clothes. The same can be said about The Royals. It’s a series trying to distract you with good looks, good looks, and more good looks (with good looking people, clothes, and jewels), in order to hide a script in tatters. This royal treat ends up being a royal mess!
The Royals
Watch On: Netflix
Director: Priyanka Ghose, Nupur Asthana
Writers: Vishnu Sinha, Iti Agarwal, Annukampa Harsh
Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar, Sakshi Tanwar, Zeenat Aman, Vihaan Samat, Kavya Trehan, Udit Arora, Alyy Khan, Chunky Panday, Nora Fatehi, Dino Morea, Milind Soman
Rating: 2 stars
