The Royals is a Hindi rom-com web-series that combines vintage royalty with new-age generation. Streaming on Netflix, the series is created by Neha Sharma and produced under Pritish Nandy Communications. Is it worth watching?
Storyline
Set in the fictional princely state of Morpur, the story follows the royal family in their palace and their struggle to stay afloat after the death of the maharaja. Enter Aviraaj Singh, the reluctant heir living his life in New York, who returns to his ancestral home to wrap up royal formalities and leave. But instead, he’s roped into a quirky new plan: a start-up-led venture called Royal B&B, where commoners can pay to live like the royals and the royal family can get their share.
Leading this venture is Sophiya Shekhar, a dynamic CEO with a business mind and a plan. Sparks fly between her and Aviraaj, and their romance sees the ups and downs like a cardiogram. Meanwhile, Rani Ma Padmaja juggles her situationships with the grace of a drama queen in a modern soap opera.
To top it all, Sophiya has to navigate the challenges arising: at the palace by its inmates, outside the palace by the Dhondi Royals and due to the board that controls her.
Can Sophiya pull it off? What will happen to the Aviraaj-Sophiya romance?
Our critique
Early on in the first episode itself, you begin to feel that weakness in the screenplay and lack of depth in the characters. We see excessive focus on Aviraaj’s bare chest and abs instead of acting. Certain situations are silly and certain incidents are exaggerated. As an example – a polo match where Aviraaj scores a simple goal and he is shown celebrating as if he has won the world cup. The chemistry between Aviraaj and Sophiya is just not up to the mark. The narrative is too predictable and it gets boring after a point. Direction too leaves a lot to be desired.
One thing however, that stands out is the set design – the colours and lighting make a visual impact.
Screen Performances
• Ishaan as Aviraaj gives it his all—including his shirt in every episode—but charm alone can’t salvage a character written without depth.
• Bhumi as Sophiya feels miscast; she’s sharp but seems completely out of place with no chemistry whatsoever with Ishaan.
• Sakshi as Rani Ma Padmaja tries hard, but one is unable to relate her to the character
• Zeenat Aman is sadly underutilized as Maji Saheba, reduced to a showpiece presence.
• Milind Soman gets barely a handful of flashbacks as the late Yuvanath Singh—would have liked to see more of him
• Udit Arora as Kunal Mehta is effective and has better chemistry with Bhumi as compared to that between the lead pair.
• Chunky Pandey as Ranjit Shroff is annoying and doesn’t have much to do.
• Cameos by Nora Fatehi and Dino Morea are fine but forgettable.
• Vihaan Samat and Kavya Trehan as Aviraaj’s siblings are okay
Overall opinion
The Royals is visually stunning but emotionally hollow. The setup could have been better used for a thriller rather than silly rom-com. Avoidable.
Our rating
