Starring Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar, Netflix’s The Royals bargains the grandeur of palaces for the raw, flawed humanity often found taking shelter beneath velvet drapes. This is not your fairy tale of prince-meets-princess and they lived happily ever after. The royal family here is more of a brand that is shiny, elusive, complicated, and increasingly irrelevant in a rapidly modernising India.
Draped in royal silk and decked in crown jewels, it’s a sharp-tongued satire that exposes cracks in the gold-plated illusion of Indian aristocracy by digging deep into lives of the ones born with a silver spoon.
At the core of it, The Royals is about the everyday wars that happen deeper within ourselves than living the luxury. The constant fight with our identity, desires, idea of liberation, sources of happiness, and the haunting need to belong in a world that demands perfection.
A Crown or Cage?
It may sound exaggerated but in today’s world, money doesn’t buy happiness, it buys silence. Sure, money can buy expensive distractions, political alliances through marriages, fabricated smiles, the exhausting upkeep of legacy, and of course the long bills of a therapist. But, money does not buy loyal friendships, sources of true happiness, real identity, and
unconditional love. Set in Morpur, Rajasthan, the stature, demeanour, interpretation, and portrayal is shadowed by the stereotypes. There is no brandishing of swords but a more of a modernised royalty is at display, which sparkles on the outside but is in shambles on the inside.
Underneath each character’s ceremonial posture lies a storm of ambition, repression, and quiet desperation.
Bhumi Pednekar’s portrayal of an ambitious, orphan girl who is trying to rise beyond her gender stereotypes in a mean, materialistic, and money-minded world is both relatable and rage-inducing. To want more as a woman, and as someone who carries a dream to make her lost parents proud, is to walk a tightrope of judgment, whispers, and sabotage. Pinned down by nasty competitors, empathy-lacking peers, and patriarchy. Her journey feels like a rebellion dressed in etiquette.
Royalty vs Reality
One of the show’s most compelling themes is its commentary on relationships, especially those forged not out of love, but obligation of the position. However, the show suggests that the best matches aren’t made within royal circles, but between a royal and a commoner, where truth can breathe and masks can fall, bringing a beautifully flawed yet powerful combination to life.
Ishaan Khatter as Maharaja of Morpur brings charm and conflict to his character, a prince torn between his lineage and his longing for a life less curated. His emotional outbursts aren’t moments of weakness but revelations.
“Royalty is a Mere Facade”
The series holds up a mirror, not just to its characters, but to us as a society. We all wear crowns of some kind, crafted from career labels, societal roles, or family expectations. And like the royals, we often seek external validation to feel “enough.” It is in a way a bridge between the Royals and the Commons that the two tread to share their vulnerabilities.
The Royals reminds us that even the ones who seem to have it all are haunted by the same questions:
- Am I enough?
- Who am I beyond the image I protect?
- What will it cost me to be free?
Not a Spectacle, A Statement
What makes The Royals a standout is its refusal to glorify the very world it critiques. Do not be fooled by the grandeur of the outfits, infrastructure, and materialistic possessions. It doesn’t get lost in opulence, it dissects it. It glorifies personal emotional truth over ceremonial loyalty, and individual desire over collective delusion as well as expectations.
Every alliance here is strategic. Every emotion, a gamble. Yet ironically, it’s only when these royals let go of their rehearsed selves that the real healing begins where they tap into the deepest, darkest depths of their personality. More often, we see that the boundaries constructed are internal rather than external and thus, when they are expressed or exposed, they liberate you more than shame you.
Final Word
The Royals is a bold, thought-provoking portrayal of privilege and pressure, self worth over societal judgements. It’s a reminder that beneath every embroidered sherwani and diamond tiara, lies a soul trying to breathe free of expectations. And sometimes, the biggest act of rebellion is to feel, to fail, and to be human.
Watch it not for the glam, but for the grit.
By: Anushka Singhal
