The Royals Series Review: This Bhumi Pednekar-Ishaan Khatter show is a regal mess
The Royals(1.5 / 5)
How does one even begin writing about The Royals, the new Netflix show that wants to be chic and soapy but doesn't have the style or drama to qualify as one? The streaming platform’s recent quest of bringing popular television shows into its scattered umbrella notwithstanding, Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar’s crown-meets-corporate rom-com isn’t nearly as self-aware, convictive and bite-worthy as classic TV. It has everything going on but nothing that stays on. Watching it is like standing on an endless escalator in a shiny mall of possibilities. There is an array of manufactured ‘beauty’ on all sides; you hear words like ‘Hukum’, ‘Rajkumar’ and ‘Maharaj’ all along and each floor (ahem, episode) brings more of the same with flimsy design. It's audiovisual fatigue. An escalator to bland land.
The show has classic aspirational storytelling. The royal family of Morpur is left in splits after the late Yuvanath Singh (Milind Soman) writes away most of their fortune to his secret lover, Maurice. His eldest son, Aviraaj (Ishaan) is into modelling in the USA and is forced to come back to his royal fortress on the whims of his mother, Padmaja (Sakshi Tanwar). Facing a financial breakdown, the family has to decide the fate of their dilapidated mahals. But they are too privileged to move a muscle. “Ham Morpur se hai, ham kuch karte nahi hai, ham bas hai (We are from Morpur, we don't do anything, we just are),” says Maaji, played by Zeenat Aman in her coveted comeback. Finally, they decide to do business with Royal B&B, a hospitality company wanting to use their space to give commoners an experience of royalty. Leading the company is Sophia (Bhumi), facing the ire of her icky investors, who accuse her of being too impulsive in her decision-making. She is determined to launch her brand in collaboration with the reluctant but needy royals.
Created by: Rangita and Ishita Pritish Nandy
Directed by: Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana
Starring: Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Sakshi Tanwar, Zeenat Aman, Vihaan Samat, Kavya Trehan, Lisa Mishra, Nora Fatehi, Dino Morea, Milind Soman, Chunky Panday and more
There is nothing that the show doesn’t strive to do. It features a complicated romance between Aviraaj and Sophia that squarely depends on being transactional. At the start of each episode, they start getting to know each other more and develop admiration. By the end, they are locking horns and fighting. They have a basic arc of a usual love-story gone wrong with a fizzling chemistry. Then there’s Aviraaj’s sister, who has little to do than be acutely confused about her sexuality when she develops feelings for Lisa Mishra’s character. Through the third sibling, Digvijay (Vihaan Samat), the show also gets a chance to become Masterchef lite as he participates in a cooking reality show, called Gastronautics. And it’s not even spoofy for how diligently it plays over. In a scene, while tasting a dish made by Digvijay, the plate dramatically falls from the hands of one of the judges. He eyes Digvijay sternly. “That was disgusting,” he delivers, but that’s not it as he goes on to add, “Disgustingly good!”. Unlike Digvijay’s dish though, the show doesn’t allow for such a graceful U-turn.
It isn’t difficult to ascertain that the makers are going for that trashy-comedy tone but to do that without smart writing is a plan gone wrong. Much of its show of emotions feels accidental, not adding much to our understanding of the characters. What we get as a result are eight episodes that are perennially confused about what to be, how to be and how much to be. Bhumi and Ishaan lead the show individually with flair but lack the charm to create a spark together. It often feels like Ishaan is straight out of a teenage romance and Bhumi is from a classical, mature love story. Their eyes meet, but their worlds remain distant. Sakshi Tanwar is fun and games as the colorful maharani while Zeenat Aman is reduced to a weed-smoking-veteran dropping casual remarks in between.
Each episode here comes up with an event that makes the characters don designer outfits. There’s a ball party, a grand auction and much more. Not to mention a rugged Ishaan who is made to go shirtless in almost all the episodes. But there’s just nothing to salvage the perpetual dullness. It will probably not work even as a second-screen content for it will eventually only serve to distract you from your reel-watching loop. There’s not much to look forward to, and very little to take away.