The Royals has opened to mixed reactions, but there is no denying that it makes for, as we Indians love to call it, a ‘timepass’ watch. t2 caught up with co-director Priyanka Ghose to know more about the Netflix series, frontlined by Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khatter.
How did The Royals happen for you?
It came my way when I was awaiting the release of the second part of The Night Manager. The team of The Royals had only seen Part 1 of The Night Manager but they were keen to have me do the entire show. At that time, I wasn’t quite sure because I had prior commitments.
But I had read their Bible (a detailed document that outlines the show’s world, characters, plot and overall direction) and the overall arc of the season. The script was still being written but I knew this story was special and it broke my heart to turn it down. But the minute I had something else free up, I knew that I could make time for this.
When I take on something, it is easier for me as a director to involve myself from the time of writing the script. I knew that this would take up two years of my life and I needed that kind of time. In the middle of all the crime, murder and the dark stories that we see nowadays, The Royals felt like a breath of fresh air. And I thought I could do justice to it.
I had been dying to do a love story since Broken But Beautiful. But that was a tragic and intense love story and I wanted to get my hands on material that would allow me to explore the rom-com genre on a happier note.
What really struck me about The Royals was that in the garb of a rom-com, I had the opportunity to explore many more relationships. The universe and the world building is around the two characters (Aviraaj, played by Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar’s Sophia), but there are so many other characters... all of them are independent yet intertwined with the main track. It was the most ripe material for me to get excited about doing an ensemble project.
A big draw for me was the setting because the world of Indian royalty is something that we have not seen much of before on our screens. I knew I had the opportunity to portray something fresh for the audiences. To provide a sneak peek into that universe and portray it in the right light was going to be a challenge but also an exciting journey for me.
What were the biggest struggles and what aspects of making it were the most satisfying?
As Indian audiences, we have seen love stories of all kinds. The challenge was incredibly high because every love story with the usual tropes of what would happen between a boy and girl and what eventually plays out is always going to remain the same... you just need to find a fresh way of telling them.
Another big challenge is that whenever you have characters set in a universe that is different from our day-to-day lives, and especially if there is opulence or wealth attached to it, it becomes that much harder to make the characters relatable, unless you give them the depth and universal emotions that all of us feel, no matter what the setting is. When you have stories set in a very rich world, it gets difficult for many to connect with it. Most viewers are able to connect better with heartland India stories because that world feels familiar and the characters feel more rounded and wholesome. So, the big challenge in The Royals was creating well-rounded characters and impactful situations that become relatable despite the setting.
Hence, every time I was able to bring about a certain humaneness between characters, it felt creatively satisfying. I wanted the audience, when they watched Ishaan and Sakshi ma’am (Tanwar), to feel that it was a mother-son talking, rather than two royals interacting.
I knew I had to shoot the opulence in a way that looked grand and amazing, but even within that, I would have to dig deep into what is going on within each scene and within each person’s heart and soul. That was satisfying. Yes, it was a dichotomy... the challenge in itself became the most gratifying experience for me.
The feminine gaze is very evident in this series, and I am not just talking about a frequently shirtless Ishaan. Plus, almost all the women in the series are empowered in their own way. Tell us about that...
What pops out as character arcs is right from the writing level. It doesn’t matter whether it is a male or a female writing these characters... what we needed was good writers writing these characters. When I first read it, I realised that great insight and thought had gone into creating these characters. They are truly three-dimensional characters with all kinds of layers. Ishaant’s Aviraaj is this brat of a Maharaja who takes out his shirt at the drop of a hat, but he is also a supermodel and an icon in the fashion industry. What he does is a natural extension of who he is, so it was not something that I needed to do for effect once I was on set.
The first time you see him in the series, he is a hot shirtless guy on a horse on the beach... total eye candy. If you notice, he does not have any dialogue all the way till the bar scene. So till then, the audience is just looking at him and objectifying him in a way. But within all that objectification, Ishaan brings in deeper layers... there is a connection he has with the horse, he looks at the girl (Sophia) with a lot of respect and amusement. He is never leching. When you talk about female gaze, these are the things that were important for us because that is the kind of man we desire. We want to look at men who are sensitive and vulnerable, despite their charm and physicality. Even in the other male characters that I worked on in The Royals as well as my other projects, I have been mindful of what their traits are, hidden underneath their physical valour and charm.
The way the women are portrayed in the show is a natural extension of me as a woman... I know this is the way we should be represented. I am naturally drawn towards portraying women in a certain light. I was praised even during Tillotama’s (Shome) portrayal in The Night Manager. In The Royals, there is a very clear understanding of who Paddy (Padmaja, played by Sakshi Tanwar) is, of who Maaji (Zeenat Aman) is, who Jeannie (Kavya Trehan) is. Jeannie’s character was very challenging. It is very easy to think of her as dumb. But that was never the point. I wanted Kavya to dig deeper into understanding who she really is and why is she here. Why is she featuring in this story to begin with? What is she after and what is her agency? In the last episode, you see her arc come a full circle and discover what she is looking for.
It is a blessing we have the female gaze, but I hope that more and more people are able to portray both male and female characters in a more rounded way and not make them just two-dimensional characters.
How did you want to use the opposites-attract trope in a fresher way?
It is a trope that has come down through generations. We came into this world knowing these stories, learning about these stories, reading them, watching them and even experiencing them. I think what works is that palpable chemistry that comes out of two completely different people from two very different worlds. The attraction eventually gives way to something deeper and more meaningful. You might call it love, you might call it something else. When two different people come together, the different stages of love become that much more exciting and allow more room for drama, which is potentially one of the most ripe ingredients for any kind of love story.
Now it is up to you as a storyteller what direction you want to take it in. Whether you want to heighten the drama, whether you want to just play on that push and pull, whether you want to make the characters go apart or reunite them.