The Royals on Netflix faces backlash for inaccurate research and lack of representation

Following its release on Netflix last weekend, The Royals, featuring Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar has drawn criticism from Royal Fables over historical inaccuracies.

Last weekend Netflix dropped its latest show ‘The Royals’ which revolves around the fictional royal family of Morpur. The protagonist Aviraaj (Ishaan Khatter) is the Maharaja of Morpur who falls in love with Sophia (Bhumi Pednekar), the CEO of a start up that wants to launch a Royal B&B. While all of this sounds like another fairytale romance that we’d either swoon over or just roll our eyes at, it really isn’t as frivolous as it looks. Shedding light on the same, Royal Fables, a company that actually works closely with princely states in India today and puts in effort towards preserving their heritage and artifacts, shared a post on social media calling out the series for its lack of representation and research. 

The post spoke about how real life royal families in India aren’t poor as shown in the series. Neither do they need to take drastic measures like selling their jewelry and clothes to raise funds. Instead, they have well built businesses and monetize on the royal legacy that they have already inherited. Furthermore, the post also mentions that royal families do not take help from the government or any third party to maintain their properties, the money used for maintenance often comes from their own pockets and it is not an easy job to keep a palace polished at all times.

The Royals also portrays the royal family to be rather overdressed and constantly being stuck between the walls of their extravagant palace but Royal Fables argues that in real life that is far from the truth. The royal princes and even the women in their families stick to minimalist fashion. They either wear chiffon sarees or dress even more subtly than you and I do everyday. The women of royal families are also highly educated and work with NGOs, empower women, are chefs, army generals and hoteliers who work with hotels like Taj and Oberoi. They don’t just sit idle all day contrary to what the show portrays.

Also Read: The Royals review: A royal mess that leaves you with a whole lot of why's

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The post also questioned how Sophia manages to give Rani-sa a Ravi Verma painting which costs crores today. The whole turnover of the start up would probably be lesser than the cost of the painting. It highlights the fact that royal families today have been pioneers of giving musical gharanas, Indian cuisine, school of weaves and art ateliers a platform to showcase their talent to the world. It urges the makers to have their research and homework in place the next time they portray Indian royals as a confused, spoiled, privileged, Polo playing family! There’s a lot to look into beyond just the stereotypes we have stuck to so far.

The post definitely makes us all wonder where the line between cinematic liberty and proper representation actually begins and ends! Does the fact that it’s a fictional show about a fictional family exempt the makers for casually misrepresenting a plethora of things? A platform like Netflix does not just limit itself to India; it has a reach all around the world. Are we collectively okay with this portrayal being the face of royal families in India?

Even if we kept research and homework aside for a bit, watching the show as an audience has also brought out a lot of criticism for it on social media. From the plot not making sense, Zeenat Aman getting practically no screentime or a decently fleshed out role, arcs left unexplained and two toxic protagonists - these are bound to leave a sour aftertaste post a weekend binge gone wrong! 

Maybe this could be a much needed wake up alarm for filmmakers to introspect on how far they really want to take their right to cinematic liberty. Because representation, be it of any class, caste, race or ethnicity, deserves at least a certain amount of accuracy to it!

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