‘I Never Had To Deal With My Inhibitions’

IMAGE: Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Sakshi Tanwar, Zeenat Aman and Vihaan Samrat in The Royals. Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix

It’s not every evening that you get to have tea with The Royals.

This evening, though, one did as Netflix hosted a regal tea party for the media at Mumbai’s Yash Raj Studios.

The set was designed like a large dining area meant for, well, royals. Tables snaked around the large room; a stage waited patiently at one side.

Strings of pearls looped in and out of crystal bowls that had been filled with grapes and cashews. Tea stands with cookies and brownies flirted with delicious-smelling bouquets of roses and elegant table lamps.

Turbaned ushers welcomed each invitee with a polite “Khamma ghani” before guiding them to their seats.

Servers made sure that glasses of cold coffee, guava juice, iced tea and pomegranate juice arrived at a steady pace.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix

Zeenat Aman could not attend the event but she started the show with a warm welcome through a video.

Then, the curtains hiding the stage rose and we were introduced to The Royals.

Sakshi Tanwar was dressed like the Maharani she plays in the show. She strolled down the stage and around the large room before casually gifting pearls to a lucky journalist.

A swashbuckling Dino Morea, who plays a sexy flirt, was next; he walked with a rose on his mouth, which was quickly given to a pretty face.

Directors Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana enjoyed the spotlight as did Writer Neha Veena Sharma, who got a seat at the table too, indicating how times have truly changed for the real heroes of entertainment.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix India/Instagram

Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khatter — who headline this interesting cast — arrived last.

Bhumi, looking like a dream in a white gown, indulged in some nok-jhok with the dapper Ishaan, giving everyone a live demo of what they could expect from The Royals.

So what can you expect from the romantic OTT series that’s coming to your screens on May 9?

Rediff’s Ronjita Kulkarni introduces you to the characters.

Bhumi Pednekar plays the ‘haute boss babe’, Sophia; Sophia’s not royal, not in the traditional sense.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix

“Mujhe dengue tha, mein hospital mein thi when Tanya (Bami, Netflix head) called me and told me, there’s this thing, it’s a romance. Maine bukhaar mein Royals padna shuru kiya,” Bhumi says.

“And I just couldn’t stop! I remember telling my team — can I get another episode? Ek aur episode. Ek aur episode. Yeh kar kar ke, maine poori series padh li.

“The show gave me a chance to play around with my wardrobe and makeup, which I love so, so deeply. You know, I’ve never chased playing an urban girl or a character that’s away from what I usually do. I always go for scripts. When this show came my way — I love a romance! — I realised that, at the core, it’s so sensitive, so progressive.

“There are such beautiful characters. Everybody who watches this show is going to find a representation and that’s why I did it.

“It’s a rom-com but the romance that Sophia and Aviraj have is so classic that it’s going to give you butterflies in your stomach. It will also make you tear up a little.

“I have had a lot of crutches (in my earlier films), right? Like a kind of a dialect or a costume. I would be so away from Bhumi. I never had to deal with my inhibitions, what I’m uncomfortable about meeting in myself through my characters.

“But Sophia is so close to who I am. Her ideology, her faith, the things that she believes in, her passion… She has fire and I think I have a lot of fire within me.

“Here, I had to be comfortable with the fact that there would be aspects of Bhumi that would be in Sophia and that is okay. I had to make peace with the fact that the audience might see a very real part of me. While it takes a lot of confidence and a lot of like prepping, it’s actually therapeutic.”

Ishaan Khattar plays Aviraj or the ‘Rajkumar of sizzle’

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix

“On the face of it, this is a very bingeable, snackable, fun show with all the fluff, the fun and the shimmer. But as you go deeper, you start seeing the inner world of these characters. And you start seeing the cracks. And there is meat on the bone. As an actor, that was very exciting for me,” Ishaan says.

“I had a very inspiring team of wonderful women, which seems to be a recurring theme in my career. I think more than 50 percent of my collaborators — in the roles of directors, cinematographers — have been women.”

Ishaan learnt horse riding for his role as a prince.

“We were told that we have two-and-a-half months to become polo prodigies. Happy to report that my brother (played by Vihaam Samrat) and I did the training and then did all our stunts ourselves. So we’re horse riders now. And, now, I ride for passion.”

Ishaan goes on to say, “The show is a very fresh take on a royal and a commoner. I have been saying for a long time that I want to be a part of love stories. I only got to do one tragic love story in the beginning of my career; seven years have passed before I got this opportunity.”

Sakshi Tanwar plays ‘Mayhem Maharani’

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix India/Instagram

“For the longest time, I have played characters that have been on the other (common) side of the table,” Sakshi says, who was seen last year in Ulajh and Sharmajee Ki Beti. This is the first time I got to see this (royal) life.

“I have not seen this in real life. I come from a very basic background and since I have played characters that were close to my background, it never took me any preparation to portray them.

“When I was told about this character, I thought, no, this can’t be true. Only my mom had ever considered me a rani (queen).

“I was very conscious during my first scene because I don’t know how royals think. I had no reference point. I was very uncomfortable because I was like, no, I’m not getting it right. I had to stop thinking like who I am and start thinking like who I should be. And that’s what I did.

“My makeup was very different.

“Rangita (Nandy, Producer) would insist I wear red lipstick and I would be like, no, please let me go with the neutral shades.

“The jewellery and the costumes also did their magic because, when you wore them — the diamonds especially — it sent a message to my brain that, oh, you’re a queen. I just carried that message with me when I went on the set.”

Chunky Panday plays a ‘sweet charmer’

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix India/Instagram

“I’m the self-proclaimed king of comedy,” Chunky grinned.

“In fact, in college, I was called ‘Your Highness’… because I was always high!” he said with a laugh, then quickly added, “I’m joking,” in his signature style.

“The first time I met a royal, I didn’t know whether to shake his hand, do namaste or touch his feet. And I thought hukum was his first name because everyone kept calling him “Hukum“. So I asked him, “Hukum, what’s your surname?

“In this show, I tried to do a little bit of overacting. But then this beautiful team of women controlled me and said, “Relax. You’re not in Housefull; you’re in The Royals. They had a leash and I was being controlled but I really enjoyed it.”

Vihaan Simrat plays the ‘peppery prodigal prince’

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix India/Instagram

“I’ve played characters before that are a bit more chill. This time, I wanted to do something that was meatier,” said Vihaan.

“You’ve seen stuff (in the trailer) where I’m yelling and screaming and beating a (dead) chicken on the ground.

“I enjoyed playing polo. My horse, Charlie, was my best friend for two-and-a-half months. I saw him more than I saw my own family.”

Kavya Trehan plays the princess and ‘Miss Zingy Stylista’

Photograph: Kind courtesy Netflix India/Instagram

“I was very, very excited when I first got to know about the makers, the cast. I come from a household of only women — there’s mom, sister, cats, they’re women, and dogs, even they’re women,” she said.

“But here,” she added with a laugh, “I found myself a pair of brothers!”

Dino Morea plays a ‘smoky stud’