Royal Fables lashes out at Netflix’s ‘The Royals’ for wrong depictions of Indian royalty

Netflix’s latest release, The Royals, starring Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar in lead roles, has been streaming since May 9. The eight-episode series, created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and Ishita Pritish Nandy, and directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana, attempts to dramatize the lives of Indian royalty, but falls short in both substance and sensitivity. Though entirely fictional, the show has sparked backlash from real-life royals, aristocrats, and noble families who feel misrepresented. The criticism reached a new level when Royal Fables—a platform dedicated to promoting the art, heritage, and lifestyle of Indian royalty through its exhibitions—publicly slammed the series in a strongly worded social media post, accusing the makers of distorting royal realities for entertainment.

For the unversed, Royal Fables claims to be the country’s only “heritage platform showcasing the craft, culture, cuisine of Princely India”. Founded by Anshu Khanna, the patrons of Royal Fables include Mahrani Radhika Raje Gaekwad of Baroda, Rajasthan’s Deputy Chief Minister Princess Diya Kumari, Princess Vaishnavi Kumari of Kishangarh, and Princess Mriganka Kumari of Jammu & Kashmir, among many others.

Royal Fables, sharing an open letter to Netflix, on its Instagram handle captioned, “Just watched The Royals and felt compelled to speak up on behalf of India’s 565 princely states. The show misrepresents modern-day royals as idle, poor, and outdated.” In the long post, Royal Fables highlighted at least 11 reasons that were completely wrong in how the series makers portrayed the Indian royalty.

It rightly called out Netflix for wrongly showing the Indian royalty as poor. “They are not selling their palaces or making money from bat poop,” it said, adding that the rich legacy is being monetised by the royals, who are the “land owners and inheriters”. It further said that conserving palaces is a mammoth task that the young generation of these royal families is making possible with their “legit businesses” and are becoming “heritage promoting entrepreneurs”.

Mathrubhumi English reached out to Netflix for an official comment. However, no statement was given by the streaming giant.

In the series, written by Neha Sharma, the royal family of a fictionalised princely state Morpur in Rajasthan, is seen selling its fleet of vintage cars and paintings, including one that of acclaimed artist Raja Ravi Verma, to cut down on expenditures. This too was called out by Royal Fables, mentioning that while it was done by some after the abolition of Privy Purses in 1971, today, members of royal families are rather building “private museums, heritage properties, and music IPs from their inheritance.”

The post, which was shared on Tuesday, has since then received over 3400 likes and over 320 comments. It saw instant support from people, especially those from the Maratha and Rajput communities. Among those who showed support for the post were Maharani Radhika Raje Gaekwad of Baroda and princesses Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil of Bhavnagar princely state in Gujarat and Chandni Kumari Singh of Seorah, Uttar Pradesh.

Tripti Singh, resident of Gurugram, Haryana and founder of Gathjor, a matrimonial platform for the Rajput community, wrote in the comments: “The trailer was so stupid that I decided not to watch the show … No royals or the Nobles dress up and behave like that … Stop making fun of them…” Same thoughts were echoed by Rani Madhavi Zamindar, of the ‘Mandloi’ Zamindar family, who once ruled Indore in Madhya Pradesh. In the comments, she said, “I cringed at the grotesque jewellery and overdressed actor’s painted so heavily, I was wondering how they were going through the shoot in the muck.” She also mentioned that the series’s “stylist needs to meet some actual Royals.”

While many were upset with the wrong portrayal of Indian royals, some in the comments section of the post highlighted that the series is fictional. One Siddharth Bansal wrote: “I don’t usually comment on any posts on Instagram but couldn’t help myself here. This is the most insecure and butt hurt thing I’ve ever read on the internet. Someone please help the royals understand the meaning of fiction. Also, nobody really cares, you’re blowing up your own importance.” Another user, Radhika, also wrote in the comments section saying that the “show never called royal families poor. Just showed one particular family in debt. Really weird how this is your area of concern right now.”

The series features Sakshi Tanwar, Vihaan Samat, Sumukhi Suresh, Lisa Mishra, Kavya Trehan, Dino Morea, Chunky Pandey, Nora Fatehi, alongside Ishaan and Bhumi. It also marks the OTT debut of veteran actor Zeenat Aman.