'The Royals' Director Recalls Meeting Royals From Jaipur And Other Places For Inspiration, 'I Had..'

Netflix's The Royals has been making headlines ever since its premiere on the platform on May 9, 2025. Starring Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar in the lead, the show follows a royal tale of love, deception and mysteries. While netizens were intrigued by its plot and impressed with its glitzy royalty, the show has found itself in a new controversy. Despite being based on a fictional tale, several people have raised questions about the portrayal of royals on the show, including The Royals Fables and Baroda's Queen, Maharani Radhika Raje Gaekwad herself. Amid all this, the show's director opened up about what served as an inspiration for her to create the show. 

The Royals director reveals why she shot at multiple locations 

Priyanka Ghose, who co-directed The Royals with Nupur Asthana, recently sat down for an interview with News 18. Before the criticism around its portrayal of Royals made rounds on the internet, Priyanka told that she had travelled extensively across India and spoke to multiple royals to understand their culture and tradition to research for the show. When she was asked whether The Royals was based on the royal family of Jaipur, given it is their shooting location, she said:

"Not just Jaipur. I had to do multiple trips of location recce because you can't restrict yourself to one palace. I needed so many different spaces. I needed a full-blown swimming pool, somebody's room, somebody's Darbar Hall, some dining hall. It was impossible to find it all in one place. You have to go hunting everywhere

She continued and explained that she didn't just meet the royal family of Jaipur but also met the royal people from other families and regions. Priyanka didn't just limit her research to royal family members but also talked to their managing staff and head of staff to understand small details and how things worked behind the scenes. She said:

"It was not just the Jaipur royal family. We met and observed different royal families. But yes, there is a lot of creative and cinematic liberty taken when it comes to, for example, the way one dresses. Not every time will the Maharani be completely decked out in all her finery and diamonds to step into the main courtyard."

Radhikaraje Gaekwad slammed The Royals for a misleading portrayal of the royalty in India

After Priyanka Ghose opened up about the inspirations for her show, Radhikaraje Gaekwad, the queen of Baroda, took to social media and shared her views about the show. She called out The Royals for giving a glamorous makeover to the sacrifices of 565 royal families from various princely states across the country. Quoting Sardar Patel, Maharani also reminded us how the princely states fought a bloodless revolution and gave away their age-old kingdoms for a united India. In the absence of title or support, she highlighted how they continue to hospitals and other charity services. 

More about The Royals 

The Royals directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana. It stars Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar, Nora Fatehi, Vihaan Samat, Dino Morea, and Milind Soman. The series premiered on Netflix on May 9, 2025, and received mixed reviews from critics. The Royals is based on the life of a royal prince who gets and falls in love with an independent CEO of a company. Critics praised the show's production design and some lead performances, but the show's writing drew criticism. 

Meanwhile, Netflix has renowned The Royals for one more season and audience would soon get to see how the story develops further.

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