The Royals Cast/Actors: Zeenat Aman, Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar, Sakshi Tanwar, Nora Fatehi, Vihaan Samat, Milind Soman, Dino Morea, Lisa Mishra, Kavya Trehan, Udit Arora, Chunky Panday & Others.
The Royals Director: Priyanka Ghose & Nupur Asthana
The Royals Production House: Pritish Nandy Communications
The Royals Release Date: 9th May, 2025
The Royals Available On: Netflix OTT Platform
The Royals Released/Available In Languages: Hindi
The Royals Number Of Episodes: 8
The Royals Episode Duration: 45 Minutes (Approx Each Episode)
The Royals Critic Review:
It’s laughable at first, like the main actors are caricatures.
Curiously named Sophia Kanmani Shekhar (Bhumi Pednekar), the award-winning entrepreneur shows the middle finger to VIPs. Especially those that come riding a horse shirtless on a Sri Lankan beach. The Shirtless Sultan as Aviraaj (Ishaan Khatter) is later crowned, show creator Neha Sharma and directors Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana labour at taking his shirt off to show a royal six-pack in swimming pools, during photo shoots and atop a horse.
There’s equal effort put in to have Sophia-Aviraaj grab each other, smooch, grope, grow apart, a dozen times.
VIP-hating Sophia, as confused as her name, has conceived Royal B & B, her own genius business model to have blue blood mingle with hoi polloi. An early taste of she-doesn’t-know-where-she’s-at: an encounter with same middle finger VIP at a bar. The next moment, they’re smooching in a room, ready for action. Only to end up calling each other names and to pull out saying, it was a mistake.
But the BG score has already introduced the beach scene with something about “…meant to be”, so you know where it’ll go for the next eight episodes.
Makeup and breakup, smooch and pull out.
Especially when Royal B & B brings her to Morpur where Aviraaj is the Maharaj in waiting. She didn’t know that, swear. (Homework, CEO?)
Three swirling skirts dancing in the courtyard, ‘Hukum’, ‘Khamma Gani” and “Sa” at the end of every name (Ranisa, Girdharisa et al), are strewn all over. That this is Rajasthan is complete when the royals of Morpur are broke, their palace(s) are crumbling and all of them have nicknames. Aviraaj is Fizzy. Brother Digvijay (Vihaan Samat) is Diggy. Divyaranjini (Kavya Trehan with thick eyebrows that stand out on a small face) is Jinnie. Even mom Padmaja (Sakshi Talwar) is Paddy and her late husband (Milind Soman in a large photo and in flashbacks) was Pickles. Designed to give you the tickles.
Inclusivity stares out of the screenplay with another royalty named Salauddin (Dino Morea), Salad for short. He’s the nice guy who schools Sophia on the realties of royalty, on image being everything. “We hide the torn parts of our clothes with bejewelled sherwanis,” he tells Sophia.
Once done with the ridiculousness of royalty and commoners (“Raajkumars and Aamkumars,” as dialogue writer Harsh Annukampa puts it) that’s so out of sync with contemporary Bharat, and the motley bunch of royal family members topped with Maaji (Zeenat Aman) who wears dark glasses indoors, swigs whisky and drops lines like, “Tum vidhwa ho, murda nahi,” there’s a series of relationships.
The three siblings who spar and bond and ultimately share secrets.
Mom Paddy, broke but can’t do without gems and jewellery shopping, who has secrets of her own with admirers and lovers (including Chunky Panday as Ranjit Shroff, an ageing screen heartthrob). With flashbulbs popping and the media full of Ranjit and the Maharani, her love life is still a secret.
Aviraaj who has a demon to deal with in flashbacks with his dead dad who he’d refused to meet. Until he’s devastated by the truth about his parents (cliffhanger for another season).
Diggy who secretly aspires to be a master chef. Why that has to stay hidden, you don’t ask, coz that’s logic and you don’t question royalty – or screenplay writers.
Jinnie who’s had affairs galore but is a closet gay.
All three also battle with their chemistry with “commoners” and the price they have to pay for being “royalty”.
In between there are mild villains. A gay writer threatening to write a biography. Sophia’s triangle with Aviraaj and ex-flame and current CFO Kunal Mehta (Udit Arora). A rival royal who knows a secret or two and has an axe to grind. Sophia’s funder who wants to oust her as CEO from her own company.
To prolong the relationships (or situationship, as one dialogue refers to it), Sophia and Aviraaj, part, come back with a ‘no hugging, no kissing’ rule that’s supposed to be full of funny chemistry, can’t keep their hands off each other (even the worktable will do), break up again. We need a second season, you know.
You do get invested in the characters but wish they’d get on with telling their story.
With references to a “lavender marriage”, “bat shit”, much vomit, parties at the drop of a hat, a mic drop moment where Aviraaj literally drops the mike, screen bursts with ‘…. days to go for the launch’ but we’re still in a mess kind of scenario, profundities like a drunk Diggy saying, “If someone hadn’t seen the worth of turning grapes into wine, grapes would’ve remained kismis,” and events like a Romeo & Juliet dance, Polo With Prince, a cookery show and a royal auction, the story has just begun.
All windows open for a second season.
The Royals – Watch Or Not?: Better than the Naseeruddin Shah show Kaun Banegi Shikarwati and nowhere near The Crown, watch it if you want some moments of fun at what a royal mess Rajkumars and Aamkumars make of their lives.
The Royals Review Score Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (i.e. 2.5/5)
The Royals Official Trailer:
Credits: Netflix
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