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

The Royals starring Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar is really just a royal rumble of red flags. Here’s why!

The Royal review: There’s a fine line between shows that serve as guilty pleasure and shows that are just straight up a series of nothingness. The Royals unfortunately is the latter; think of it as Khoobsurat meets A Christmas Prince meets Animal. Creators Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy bring to us an 'all style no substance' rom-com and just like me, you’re often going to wonder if this is going anywhere at all!

The Royals is about Sophia (Bhumi Pednekar) the CEO of a start up, who wants to launch a Royal B&B. Through this experience she wants ‘aamkumaris’ (commoners) to meet the rajkumar and rajkumaaris of India. You’d think that someone who is desperate to launch a Royal B&B would have done her research on the currently present royal families but she had absolutely no idea when she co-incidentally met Aviraaj (Ishaan Khatter), the Maharaja of Morpur. This in itself tells you that the theme of the show is largely based on being tone deaf. The Morpur siblings lost their father (Milind Soman) 6 months ago; they're rather broke to carry on with the lifestyle that they’re used to. Hence partnering with the Royal B&B is somehow supposed to save them. 

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The matriarch of the family, Rani-sa (Sakshi Tanwar) is stuck between getting her kids back on track and re-kindling her romance with an actor from Bombay (Chunky Panday). Aviraaj also known as ‘Fizzy’ is the eldest of the siblings. He is dealing with his childhood trauma and daddy issues and masks it with his playboy life in New York, until his dad’s will forces him to finally take on his responsibilities. Then comes Diggy, the next in line. He was taking care of the palace in Fizzy’s absence but on the inside he truly wants to be a chef. Jinnie, the youngest of the lot, is also stuck between a string of boyfriends until she falls for one of Sophia’s team members played by Lisa Mishra. Yes, all of their names sound like beverages and yes they can do you one better! Wait until you meet Salad (Dino Morea) the eldest son of the Dhondhi Royal family.

The names sure are bizarre, but the plot truly takes the cake. Aviraaj and Sophia hook up on a whim, break up on a whim, get mad at each other in one scene and twinkle eyes at each other in the next. There’s no context, it’s all up to you to figure out! There are topless polo matches, horses named Coffee and Khan, a masquerade ball is thrown in for no reason; there’s a cooking show that is weirdly similar to Masterchef Australia. There are queer subplots that look like they’re taken from Red, White and Royal Blue and there’s no proper business decision taken even once throughout the series. It makes it difficult to take the story seriously at all. But the biggest disappointment is how underutilized Sumukhi Suresh and Zeenat Aman are in this show. Suresh plays Keertana, Sophia’s assistant who is constantly yelled at and made to do frivolous work. Zeenat Aman, on the other hand, is reduced to a pot smoking elderly Bhabhi-sa whose dialogues feel half hearted and under cooked to put it mildly. 

Ishaan Khatter joins the man-child club with this one. He acts like he wants to support Sophia but it is all about him and his mood swings. One moment he agrees with her decisions and then he gets aggressive out of nowhere just because he feels like she isn’t listening to him. He also keeps acting like he has some serious issues from his past but they really aren’t as serious as he portrays them to be. With their constant bickering and will-they-won't-they, they think they’re serving us enemies to lovers but they're really toxic until the very end. Pednekar is known for classics like Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bhakshak and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, so it’s rather disappointing to see her 2025 line up of work. First it was Mere Husband Ki Biwi and now it’s The Royals. In both stories, she contributes to a facade of an independent woman when her character just revolves around a man’s choices.

Which takes me to my last and final point. Are we really ready to accept anything in the name of romance just because the genre is seeing an all time low? Are Khatter’s abs and his whim to go shirtless at the drop of a hat truly worth ignoring a weak screenplay? I'll leave that for you to decide! For me, no amount of glossy and expensive production is good enough to take over a story that struggles to connect with its audience.  

The Royals is currently streaming on Netflix!

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