Sometimes, you just want to watch a silly, sexy rom-com. Maybe you want a little music and dancing mixed in. And if the romcom involves some royalty, all the better. All of those ingredients are in a new Netflix series from India.
THE ROYALS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “SRI LANKA. Bentotla.” A woman puts in her Air Pods, thinking about a board meeting she’s going to have. She’s about to go for a run on the beach.
The Gist: Sophia Shekhar (Bhumi Pednekar) is the CEO and co-founder of Work Potato, a Mumbai-based company that “has changed the B&B game in the hospitality business.” She’s prepping for a meeting with her board about a new venture. She’s running to clear her head, but runs into a roped-off portion of the public beach. A photo shoot is going on, with a shirtless man — Aviraaj Singh (Ishaan Khatter), a Rajkumar (prince) in Morpur, India. She goes through the rope, and his horse gets spooked, and the two of them have a meet-cute.
Sophia does the meeting in her workout gear over Zoom when her assistant Keertana (Sumukhi Suresh) mixes up the times. She and her CFO/business partner Kunal Mehta (Udit Arora) are proposing an expansion of the business, “Royal B&B,” which not only lets people book rooms in royal castles around India but also spend time with the royal families that live there. The board chairman is doubtful.
Later, at the hotel bar, Aviraaj and his friends are making noise, and Sophia tells him to lower the volume. At this point, she’s “running girl” to him, and he’s “horse guy” to her. But there definitely is a spark, and they go to her room and get busy. But mutual phone calls interrupt them, and they can’t get their mojo back. In fact, they start to argue, with Sophia thinking Aviraaj is spoiled and privileged and Aviraaj thinking Sophia is picky.
Aviraaj is called back to Motibagh Palace, his family home, to hear the will of his father, the Maharaja. Attending is his brother Digvijay (Vihaan Samat), sister Divyaranjini (Kavya Trehan), mother Padmaja (Sakshi Tanwar) and grandmother Maji (Zeenat Aman). They’re all shocked when the will not only specifies the New York-based playboy Aviraaj is named his father’s successor as Maharaja, but all of the family’s cash is going to a mysterious person not in attendance. Oh, and the family also has to service their father’s massive debts.
You can see where this is going: Aviraaj and his family need the income, and Sophia finally gets board approval for her “Royal B&B” idea but commits to getting it launched in six short months. What are the odds that these two crazy kids are going to meet again?
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Royals is a more adult version of Mismatched, another Netflix romantic comedy from India.
Our Take: It’s interesting that The Royals, created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy and written by Neha Veena Sharma, has decided to upend the “royal and commoner fall in love against the odds” formula by making the commoner, in this case Sophia, a pretty powerful person in her own right. She’s the CEO of a start-up that’s wildly successful, to the point where she’s won awards.
She likely isn’t going to be impressed with Aviraaj’s title, though the look on her face when she finds out that he’s a Maharaja indicates that at the very least he’s not the overprivileged spoiled brat she thought he was. Of course, she’s going to learn that he really is that brat, one who is trying to live with his responsibility to his family and his new position as Maharaja. But the chemistry between them — which, of course, is thanks to the performances from Pednekar and Khatter – is well-established from the first minutes they’re on-screen together.
As in any romantic comedy, there will be complications; Sophia’s relationship with her business partner Kunal might be more than platonic, and there’s the whole thing about Aviraaj doing business with someone he’s also in a relationship with. But any craziness that surrounds this potential couple will be OK if the chemistry the two of them show in the first episode is maintained throughout the series.
Sex and Skin: There’s some clutching, grabbing, and all sorts of pre-sex activity in the first episode, but everyone keeps their clothes on.
Parting Shot: Sophia and Aviraaj find out who each other is, and they look at each other with renewed interest. Then they shake hands.
Sleeper Star: We like Zeenat Aman as Maji, the mother of the late Maharaja, mainly because she loves weed so much she grows her own, right in the courtyard of the palace. She also advises her daughter-in-law Padmaja to get out there again. “Your husband is dead. Not you!”
Most Pilot-y Line: When Aviraaj gives his grandmother gummies from Sri Lanka, and his brother chides him for even bringing them on the plane, his sisters why gummy bears would get him in trouble.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The Royals is a fun, good-looking romcom that isn’t trying to make its audience think too hard, which may be just what people need right now.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
