'The Royals' review: Bhumi-Ishaan's lifeless, hollow series tests your patience
What's the story
The Royals boasts an interesting ensemble comprising Zeenat Aman, Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar, and Sakshi Tanwar, among others.
Does the combined strength of this ensemble cast ensure that the show is an enjoyable experience?
The answer is a definite, resounding no.
Created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy, The Royals is hollow, superficial, enervating, and mind-numbing.
Story
A 'commoner' seeks her happily ever after in this fairytale
The Royals follows Aviraaj (Khatter), the prince of Morpur, who meets an entrepreneur named Sophia (Pednekar) for a business deal involving his palace.
Unsurprisingly, sparks fly between them soon, but Aviraaj is unsure if his family would like a "commoner."
To make matters worse, Sophia isn't over her ex.
Will Aviraaj and Sophia get their happily ever after?
#1
Lack of good writing drowns the series
The Royals can best be described as a series of patience-testing scenes one after the other, for eight long episodes!
The show has no depth, no soul, and lacks good writing.
This means that throughout the series, you are looking at beautiful people wearing extraordinarily expensive clothes, but that's about it.
Where is the fun, the drama, the entertainment?
#2
All style but no substance
Nearly all the characters are out of touch, and when some of them speak, Hindi doesn't quite roll off their tongue (If it's supposed to be funny, it's not).
They behave exactly how you'd expect tone-deaf characters in Hindi projects to behave.
Watching The Royals is like scrolling mindlessly through a perfectly manicured, blingy Instagram feed that initially seems magnetic but is eventually meaningless.
#3
Incredibly tough to stay with the series
The conflicts lack bite, the romance never feels organic, and unnecessary supporting characters slow down the pace.
Whatever "story" the series has, it appears only in the last few episodes, and the rest of the show simply teems with needless fluff.
If you want to fathom how bad it is, imagine if Nadaaniyan were a series.
Both projects, at their core, have similar problems.
#4
Even good actors can't save this mess
One of the biggest tragedies here is how the show wastes Khatter, Aman, and Tanwar.
It is painful to see Aman trudge through this mess, and in her brief appearance, she has been reduced to a caricature.
Same for Tanwar, whose character seems confused and disoriented.
Khatter tries extremely hard, is immensely charismatic, and dances like a dream, but he cannot rescue The Royals.
#5
Too many characters, but not even one is memorable
The Royals also suffers due to its tonal shifts, and you never feel for any character.
The stakes are never high, and the desperation to cater to the youth is almost laughable.
At one point, a character introduces Aviraaj by saying, "He is a Swiftie. He is not a green flag, he is a green forest."
How unserious a show can be?
#6
It isn't as self-aware as it thinks it is
The costumes and locations are spectacular, and the scale is grand, but these aspects cannot replace good writing.
Chunky Panday and Dino Morea try to fuel some vitality into the series, but even their characters are underwritten.
Projects about the lavish lives of the rich can be enjoyable (like Gossip Girl), but The Royals simply doesn't have the charm to cut it.
Verdict
You can skip it; 1.5/5 stars
The Royals might be Netflix India's most underwhelming series.
Pretentious characters, predictable storyline, lack of thrill, and too many sub-plots mean that The Royals always stands on shaky ground.
The Royals isn't even good enough as a mindless watch, it's punishingly frustrating and extremely disappointing.
It manages 1.5/5 stars due to Khatter and the overall production value.