The Royals: a lavish spectacle that lacks depth

Review: The Royals

Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar, Sakshi Tanwar, Zeenat Aman, Vihaan Samat and Kavya Trehan.

Director: Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana

Rating: 6/10

NETFLIX'S The Royals is what happens when Bridgerton vacations in Rajasthan and raids a rom com warehouse for every cheesy trope imaginable.

This eight episode Indian series has palaces, privilege and plotlines so melodramatic, they could make a soap opera blush.

The Royals, directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana, is a juicy mix of royal scandal and tepid romance in haute couture. What it ends up delivering is a beautifully dressed identity crisis, fumbling through clichés in saris.

At its heart is Prince Aviraaj Singh (Ishaan Khatter), heir to the fictional kingdom of Morpur.

Aviraaj is a charming, reluctant heir, who has a talent for polo and an allergy to shirts - with abs that see more screen time than his character arc.

Enter Sophia Kanmani Shekhar (Bhumi Pednekar), a go-getting CEO with a vision to turn the family’s crumbling ancestral palace into a luxury bed and breakfast. Cue culture clashes, business pitches, emotional baggage and flirtations that smoulder – mostly on paper. They set the stage for a classic enemies-to-lovers romance, or at least that’s the intention.

The show flirts with being a modern fairytale but quickly spirals into a chaotic carousel of subplots. Unfortunately, none of the threads are woven tightly enough to feel cohesive. The drama comes thick and fast, but so do the clichés. In theory, this setup should be irresistible. In practice, it’s all as convincing as a plastic tiara from a costume shop.

The writing constantly gestures toward depth with generational trauma, identity, power dynamics, but never stays long enough to unpack anything. The characters don’t evolve so much as lurch between moods, like they’re being rebooted every episode.

Aviraaj is inconsistent, Sophia often feels more concept than person and their relationship rarely sizzles. Their "will they won’t they" dynamic flickers uncertainly, overshadowed by supporting players like Digvijay Singh (Vihaan Samat) as an aspiring royal chef and Maharani Padmaja (Sakshi Tanwar), who injects much needed gravitas into her role as the queen mother with a flair for misadventures.

Zeenat Aman, in a role that should have been the crown jewel, is the eccentric grandmother who is criminally underused as the royal matriarch. Despite their good looks and obvious acting chops, Khatter and Pednekar never quite convince us they are more than colleagues forced to flirt. While they perform their roles earnestly, their romantic arc feels like it has been photocopied from a dozen other shows and faded with each pass.

It feels like poor direction from the director duo.

Khatter, however, tries hard and has eyes that emote well on screen. They’re soulful and wounded, often saying what the script doesn’t, hinting at the emotional potential The Royals never quite taps into. The visuals are luscious and the production spares no expense at making Morpur look majestic.

Think designer saris at breakfast, Rajasthani courtyards glowing at golden hour and royal balls that look like Vogue cover shoots. Yet, beneath the ornate surface, the writing stumbles. The production design worked over time to distract from the patchy storytelling.

The series leans on tropes, overstays its welcome with filler subplots and struggles to give emotional weight to its glossy melodrama. The Royals tries to juggle legacy, romance and reinvention, but drops the ball. It is not a total disaster, but for a show about reclaiming grandeur, it never quite earns its own.

If you are looking for the perfect weekend binge that is beauty over depth, this one might just be your guilty pleasure. But if you want emotional stakes and substance beneath the sparkle?Abdicate now. The Royals is now streaming on Netflix.

Keshav Dass is a presenter on Lotus FM and hosts The Night Café, Monday to Thursday, 9pm to midnight.

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