Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) Click here for a short audio version
Someone online said that Netflix’s 2025 series The Royals looked like Bollywood’s answer to Bridgerton from the trailer. And now that I’ve watched the eight-part series starring Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khatter as leads, the first few episodes made me think of it as a more fluffy, romantic, royal version of Guy Ritchie’s series The Gentlemen, minus the action and violence. While The Gentlemen was about a British aristocrat inheriting his father’s estate and solving the family’s financial troubles, The Royals too is about a reluctant prince inheriting his father’s kingly title and palace, only to find out it comes with loads of debt.
Created by Neha Sharma, The Royals starts off by introducing Bhumi Pednekar as the ambitious Sophie, a CEO of a hospitality start-up keen on unveiling an exclusive new BnB experience that will allow holidayers to not just stay in royal palaces, but also wine and dine with royalty. Sophie must now convince the royal family of Morpur to sign a deal with her, but the entitled prince Aviraaj Singh, played by Ishaan Khatter, keeps complicating her business plans, even though he really needs the BnB money, what with just the water bill running in seven digits!
The Morpur royals are fictional but also hilariously real in their disconnect with common people’s problems and their love for horses, cars, alcohol, and other finer things in life. While Sophie is fiercely independent, hard-working, and self-made, Aviraaj Singh is a royal brat who loves to spend most of his time partying in New York, far away from his bare-minimum princely duties. So, Aviraaj isn’t interested in becoming the next king and carries some strong emotional baggage connected to his deceased father, played by Milind Soman in photographs and brief flashbacks. The Royals uses the classic trope of opposites attract to set up an entertaining romance between Bhumi’s Sophie and Ishaan’s Aviraaj. They make an adorable onscreen couple, although their characters could’ve used some more romantic development. The primary conflict in the story revolves around Sophie and Aviraaj clashing over how to raise money and publicity for the BnB at his palace, and of-course, the ‘situationship’ vibes between them.
Vihaan Samat hilariously portrays Aviraaj’s younger brother Digvijay Singh, who is more rooted in Morpur and disappointed that he wasn’t made the next king. In a breath of fresh air, the sibling rivalry between Aviraaj and Digvijay is kept light and comedic, with Digvijay simply resigning to his secret hobby of cooking in the kitchen rather than plotting a killing. Not like Morpur is worth murder, the royals have no money, and their late leaves leaves a huge trust fund to an unknown person named Maurice. If you know the classic by the same name, you’ll be able to guess where that mystery is headed in the very first episode.
Kavya Trehan plays the third sibling, princess Divyaranjini Singh, a sweet airhead with an unnecessary romantic subplot that adds little to the show. Sakshi Tanwar, however, is surprisingly delightful as their queen mother Padmaja Singh, an unserious spendthrift who loves expensive paintings and jewellery, and is encouraged by her senior Maji Saheba (Zeenat Aman) to enjoy her widowhood and court men. Sumukhi Suresh plays Sophie’s junior Keerthana, a minor character, but she is perfectly understated as a wallflower assistant bumbling in the background.
The Royals is meant to be a real-life fairytale romantic comedy, so I watched it in the same spirit. And while it’s not roaringly funny, the first half of the show is consistently light-hearted in its mood, with plenty of mildly funny moments and exchanges. The second half packs in some more emotional moments, yet the lighter moments continue to be peppered throughout the serious sequences without feeling awkward.
The cinematography is gorgeous, and viewers who’ve been to Jaipur will instantly recognize Morpur’s Motibagh Palace as the Jaipur City Palace. The settings are ornate, and most of the costumes are stunning, including Sophie’s “aam kumari” wardrobe. The background score is a mixed bag. Some of the songs were catchy, but nothing that would make you hit Shazam when you hear it at a party. On the other hand, the dance sequences were fun to watch, especially since Ishaan Khatter is a great dancer, and Nora Fatehi has a cameo that allows her to show off her groovy moves too.
Overall, if you’re looking for a romance that offers a fun escape from reality, The Royals is pretty binge-worthy.
Rating: 3.5 on 5. Stream it on Netflix.
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