The actors from Netflix’s The Royals, Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Lisa Mishra, Sumukhi Suresh, Vihaan Samat, Kavya Trehan, sat down with The Quint to talk about their show, who they would want to swap characters with, what they would do if they woke up as royalty, & more.
“If I was a queen for one day, I would not allow any kind of activity at comedy clubs – only comedy and the audience,” Sumukhi Suresh said. Speaking of what she would do if she woke up as a queen, Trehan said, “If I woke up as a queen, I would provide every creative individual – actor, director, dancer, musician – a global VISA so they can work from anywhere in the world. They wouldn’t have to do any paperwork. It’s just, ‘You have chosen a creative path, let’s make it easy for you.’”
A dialogue in The Royals talks about the protagonist’s tendency to drown out his ‘inner noise’ with the ‘outer’. When the cast was asked if they’ve had to ‘protect the inner voice’, Samat said, “Some time ago I had a bit of a mental health struggle and I think what I learned to do was understand where the beliefs I have of myself and the things I say or do were limiting my possibilities.”
“Even though we talk about mental health so much, we don’t really recognise it until it comes to a point where it’s impacting your life so much that you have to stop and you can’t function. They might be saying things about themselves or being told things about themselves by other people that they don’t have to think or believe. If you have these faulty systems, it might snap at some point.”Vihaan Samat, Actor
“I think just as actor or somebody in the public eye, you’re constantly dealing with so many opinions, especially with the kind of work that I do where I’m constantly questioning the status quo,” Bhumi Pednekar added, “So if you go through my Instagram comments, they’re very colourful.”
“When you read a comment like “Isko heroine kisne banaya?” (Who made her a heroine?), you have to constantly remind yourself why you’re over here and what you stand for. Your integrity can’t be valued by a piece of work that people might not understand because it makes them uncomfortable. But that’s also the kind of work I enjoy doing. My work is very purpose driven.”Bhumi Pednekar, Actor
The cast also played a game of ‘Who’s Most Likely To’ and Ishaan Khatter talked about Martin Scorsese coming on board as the executive producer for his film Homebound directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. Watch the video for the complete interview.