The Royals Is Better Than Its Below-4 IMDb Score
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Eight episodes long, season one of The Royals (it evidently ends with a promise of a sequel) is pure escapist romantic comedy, where a prince of a fictional kingdom falls in love with the CEO of a fictional company who wants to convert one of his palace wings into a luxury BnB. This is Wattpad stuff, fan-fiction ramblings, glossy fantasy nonsense, and pure entertainment. Want to watch something historically accurate, culturally sensitive, factually precise? Well then yes, The Royals is not it, and it didn’t promise any of that in its trailer.
Starring Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khattar in the lead, I thought the show was fun, if you don’t take it seriously, because the show is rarely serious itself. So, when I went to rate it on IMDb, I was taken aback by its rating of 3.4 stars out of 10 by multiple users (it slowly increased to 3.9 at the time of this write-up). “Wait, was I swept away by the charms of a shirtless Ishaan Khattar?!” I thought to myself, because it seemed I was way more satisfied with the show than most other Indian viewers. I am rarely so off the mark, considering how I view myself as a pedestrian reviewer, who can be as impatient or demanding as any other regular Bollywood enthusiast.
Read My Full Review Here: The Royals: Ishaan’s Raja & Bhumi’s ‘AamKumari’ Click
But then on second thought, Ishaan Khattar is not somebody who gets me starry-eyed, although he is certainly cute and naturally good at emoting his character’s personality. I enjoyed taking in the the colourful palaces, comical characters, and the eye-catching costumes. Besides, even Bhumi Pednekar looks amazing in the show, and her onscreen chemistry with Khattar is cute, sensuous, and watch-worthy. Also, it’s been consistently on Netflix ‘Top 10 Shows’ in the first week of its release.
A friend who watched the show after reading my review of The Royals agrees that it’s a good ‘time-pass’ kinda series. Although we also agreed that while Bhumi looked great, her lips were distracting, and one can’t help but wonder if she has gotten something done. Lip fillers? Surgery? Who knows? But yes, if you don’t think you like her new look, I understand if you’d want to skip the show. Visual appeal matters. I’ve refused to see a lot of popular stuff just because the lead actors don’t interest me. He He 
But if you like Bhumi and Ishaan, and are looking for some Bridgerton-like romance series, with zero interest in historical accuracy, but total enthusiasm for a ‘Prince falls for the common girl’ kinda love story, ‘The Royals’ is a decent one-time watch. And I will be watching a season 2, if that happens.
Read Next: The Rose of Versailles Review: Sparkly Anime Snips Marie’s Arc
Also Read: Superboys of Malegaon: Ode to DIY Cinema (Audio Version Below)
