Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khatter bring an intense love story wrapped in royalty in The Royals that streams on Netflix from today. The eight-episode drama, with more than a touch of romance, conflict, ambition, pretty locations and beautiful people, has Ishaan playing a charismatic and non-conformist prince who suddenly finds himself placed on the throne of Morpur, with Bhumi essaying the part of an ambitious and go-getter CEO of a startup. When Aviraaj Singh and Sophia Shekhar’s paths cross, sparks fly but so do ego, misunderstandings and conflict.
Created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy and directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana, The Royals boasts an eclectic ensemble cast, including Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar, Nora Fatehi, Chunky Panday and Dino Morea. Over a video chat recently, t2 caught up with Bhumi and Ishaan on their latest outing.
Having watched The Royals, I would assume that there must have been a bunch of reasons for you to want to do the series. But was there a clinching factor that made you say: ‘I can’t let go of this’?
Bhumi Pednekar: I started reading the script of The Royals and I just couldn’t let go of it. I was then in hospital recovering from dengue, injected with intravenous drips in five different places and yet I couldn’t put the script down! Before this, I hadn’t really done something in this space. It is my first in this genre, and especially a character that also is backed by wardrobe, make-up and glamour. It is, of course, only one of the many things that Sophia (Shekhar, her character) has to offer.
What is very exciting to me about the show is that while there is romance, comedy and tons of drama, there are also beautiful micro themes. That, to me, was a winner. I am a very big fan of the genre... I have grown up reading Mills & Boon... I actually inherited about 100 of those from my aunt! That is where my journey with the genre started.
Bhumi Pednekar as Sophia Shekhar
Also, what I love about The Royals is that there is a prince but there is no damsel in distress. This is an extremely evolved take and, in many ways, he (Aviraaj Singh, played by Ishaan Khatter) is a green flag... he is a very sensitive person. I don’t want to speak for Ishaan but this is the way I look at Aviraaj....
He is a green flag who can sometimes be a red flag, right?
Ishaan Khatter: Correct! (Laughs)
Bhumi: But I think that is true for almost everyone in a relationship. As far as Sophia is concerned, what I really enjoyed is that, on celluloid, you don’t usually see women in places of power. She is a CEO, she is a woman in a man’s world, she is a queen in the world of startups. That, to me, was very exciting. There is so much about her that I resonated with... her drive, her ambition, her desire to succeed, her confusion and her constant battle of not wanting to mix her professional life with her personal life.
She also fears losing what she has built with so much hard work and that is something I completely connected with. She is a nurturer. She is somebody who can take up any kind of a challenge... she can move mountains because she hustles hard and any self-made woman would completely connect with Sophia.
Also, what is very beautiful about The Royals is that every member of the audience is going to find representation with some character or the other within the beautiful ensemble that we have. They will be like: ‘Oh my God, that has happened with me... I know this character... these are my conflicts in life.’ That is why I am completely obsessed with the show!
Ishaan, I will be completely thrown if you say that you have also inherited a stack of Mills & Boon...
Ishaan: It is definitely in my mother’s library, but not mine! (Laughs) When The Royals was offered to me, I could immediately recognise that there is so much love and such a wide audience for a space like this, even though it is not my first instinct as a young man to be drawn to material like this. There were some comparisons that were made with Bridgerton, but I feel that The Royals has so much more to offer with its modern satirical themes, the dysfunction of this crazy royal family, as well as these two characters (Aviraaj and Sophia), who are so different from each other.
I read Aviraaj as a bit of an orange flag, which is a kind of compensation for saying that there are grey shades to this character. That gave me quite a bit to chew on as an actor, while also giving me the opportunity to display a side of mine as a performer which I didn’t have the opportunity to before. That was obviously very tempting and a lot of fun to play.
What was really fascinating to me was the writing. I asked for a week to finish the script, but I called them back for a meeting in just a day-and-a-half. I was hooked! So the first credit should definitely go to Neha (Veena Sharma) and the other writers (Vishnu Sinha and Iti Agarwal) as well as the creators (Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy).
What worked for me was that other than the glamour, the thrills and the shiny veneer, one gets to see the humanity of these characters. As a character, Aviraaj was very fascinating but also hard for me to grasp. But I gradually understood the humanity of this guy and how his relationship with Sophia brings it to the fore. I thought that was really beautiful and that is what sold it for me.
Ishaan Khatter as Aviraaj Singh
Most of us love watching a good love story and yet there is so little of the genre on screens big and small today. Why do you think that has happened?
Ishaan: Yes, there is a barrage of hyper-masculine content out there, for lack of a better word. I think what is unique about The Royals is that 70 to 80 per cent of the crew, including the creators and directors as well as those in leading roles off set, are women. They had such a unique take on the genre and that made my job that much easier. I told them: ‘Just tell me what to do... I will be a puppet’ (smiles).
In relation to what you just said, we speak so much about the male gaze. But in The Royals, there is the female gaze on Aviraaj. You are objectified quite a bit. Was it also because the show is run by women?
Ishaan: I think what was fun was the self-awareness of it (laughs). There is quite a bit of the female gaze but it comes packaged in humour. There is a sequence in the series where he, being a prince, shows up without a shirt, wearing a golden and pink hat, with a bottle of champagne — much akin to his nickname ‘Fizzy’ — in a bid to try and bring disgrace to his family. But the show uses that in a fun way to give you the ‘goods’ — that is the glamour of a shirtless prince on a horse with a polo mallet. At the same time, it is absurd and funny and it adds to the drama. There is a legitimate story motivation and that, I thought, was well done.
What was cool to me was that I was allowed to live in the skin of this character and it wasn’t a tokenised thing of masculinity that he is taking off his shirt and now he is going to fight a hundred guys. It was just cool and that is what made me that much more comfortable doing it. But I also have to say that maybe we went overboard with it... just a little bit! (Laughs)
While making this series, did the two of you get to learn anything new — in terms of performance or skill set?
Bhumi: For me, it was the physical transformation that I went through. Even in the past, I have tried to transform myself physically whenever a character demanded it. When I read the script of The Royals, I told myself: ‘You have enough motivation to go to the other end of the (physical transformation) spectrum.’
When I did that, all through last year, I was constantly questioned: ‘Why are you doing this? Are you trying to succumb to the pressures of being a heroine? Are you trying to tread the conventional path?’ I was like: ‘No, I am doing it for a character.’ Now that the trailer is out, I think a lot of questions have been answered.
I feel very fortunate that in a genre like this, I managed to grab a character that has layers. She is nuanced, complicated, messy... she is grey, she makes mistakes... and yet she is so passionate about love, life and work, and I got to channelise all of this in the way that she is looking and performing in the series.
Ishaan: For me, it was horse riding. I had never trained to be a horse rider, let alone play polo. I had to train thoroughly in a short span of two-and-a-half months and then do two extensive days of shoot where I had to play polo with legitimate professionals. It was really cool. And yes, that’s all me on the horse!
From Shakespeare to Jane Austen to romantic comedies on screen, what do you think makes the ‘opposites attract’ sub-genre so potent and popular?
Bhumi: I think a lot of it is inspired by real life. At least, I would like to believe so. I think the element of friction works. Nobody likes anything easy, there has to be some drama. That can only happen when you have two people who are completely not alike. I feel that the enemies-to-lovers arc is exciting to watch, read and consume. In many ways, it is very classical in its approach.
Ishaan: What is really fun about this show is that everything is in their way of getting together, and that helps the viewer root for it so much more. In almost every episode, there is a new obstacle. At first, the conflict is their own egos, and then it becomes this situation that they have put themselves into and then comes in the vested interests of other people. Eventually, as they kind of reconcile, get closer and start seeing themselves in each other, everything that has cooked up a storm by this point comes in the way. So it is like everything is trying to keep them apart. And yet there is this magnetic pull that draws them to each other. That is a real cool spin, I feel, on the opposites-attract thing.
Hypothetically speaking, if you were royalty even for a short while, what is it about being part of a royal family that you would love and what is it that you wouldn’t like at all?
Ishaan: I am a bit of a non-conformist and I don’t like hierarchy. So if I am royalty, I might end up making decisions and signing off on rules that could potentially ruffle a lot of feathers! (Laughs)
Pretty much like Aviraaj...
Ishaan: Yes, that is a common link between us. The one thing I like about being a royal is owning those horses. I have fallen in love with them while filming the series.
Bhumi: To keep it light and fun, I would love to keep all the jewels!(Laughs) I would also love living in a palace, something that we got to experience for the two months that we were shooting in Jaipur.
What I perhaps would be uncomfortable with is the pressure of maintaining certain traditions that haven’t evolved fast enough. I am very unconventional as a person, I have always challenged the status quo. I could perhaps even bring in some kind of reform... like having a crown princess instead of a crown prince (smiles).
Like Sophia, if you had to come up with a disruptive idea for a startup, within the realm of entertainment, what would it be?
Bhumi: I would love to start something with a group of filmmakers that together fund movies. Actually, not just filmmakers, but also technicians and actors that come together and make a film and everybody gets a share of the revenue earned. I have been thinking about this for a while now, like how do we change things around and fashion a system where stakeholders come together and where there is a lot of fairness, equality and opportunity. It is very idealistic but maybe in the future, we could have something like this.
Ishaan: Bhumi and I could be co-founders on that!
The nicknames of members of the royal family, even in real life, are quite unique and colourful. The Royals has characters named Diggy, Jinnie, Paddy, Salad and, of course, Fizzy. If you had to pick a royalty-inspired nickname for yourself, what would that be?
Ishaan: The name I would definitely give Bhumi is ‘Bhuminator’, because of the power she has and for her ability to persevere and get things done. For myself, I would stick to Fizzy. The story goes that all of Morpur was distributed champagne the day Aviraaj was born, and hence the name. It is pretty cool!