Royal drama has surrounded The Royals ever since its second season went on floors. In May, we reported that Bhumi Pednekkar wouldn’t reprise her role in the Netflix series (Love lost in palace, May 10), while director Jasmeet K Reen exited the project last month.

So, what’s happening on the Ishaan Khatter-led romantic comedy? mid-day’s got the latest development — turns out, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar  co-director Mitakshara Kumar has begun helming the series in Jaipur, and Hunkkaar: The Roar co-director Nitya Mehra will join soon.

Apparently, Reen had filmed for five days, but the portions will now be reshot under Kumar’s guidance. The production is said to have also revisited the written material. This indicates an extensive production reset rather than a straightforward change of director.

A source revealed, “The shoot has now resumed in Jaipur with Mitakshara and the team is working on the revised version. The unit’s focus now is to complete its daily schedule. The team is effectively starting afresh and has to make up for the time lost while keeping the budgets in check.”

From what we’ve heard, under the leadership of Reen, who previously helmed Darlings (2022), The Royals 2 unit struggled to complete each day’s planned scenes. The growing backlog prompted producers Rangita Nandy and Ishita Nandy to reassess the footage shot. 

The source added, “Jasmeet could not align with the show’s scale. Everyone on set was confused on the first few days because she wasn’t giving any direction on how to navigate. We never finished the shoot on any of those days. Every day scenes would pile up to be filmed the next day. The new directors will reshoot her five days’ scenes because nothing was looking good as per what was expected of the pilot.”

Following reports suggesting that the shoot of The Royals Season 2 hit a roadblock in Jaisalmer after director Jasmeet K Reen allegedly walked out of the Netflix show. When we reached out to the producer Rangita Pritish Nandy, she and Keen clarified with Mumbai Mirror that the rumours are untrue. 

"Jasmeet has contributed immensely to the project. These rumours are untrue. This was a mutual decision between Jasmeet and Pritish Nandy Communications. For now, the production house will continue as planned without Jasmeet," the two said in a joint statement.

When asked about the reports suggesting that she screamed at Jasmeet on set, Rangita maintained silence and both refused to speak any further about the matter. The clarification comes a day after a report claimed that Reen (director of Alia Bhatt's film Darlings), who had come on board to direct the second season, exited midway through the shoot, following an alleged altercation with Rangita. The report also suggested that the Jaisalmer schedule had since been stalled.

On September 18, principal photography for the second season of The Royals commenced. Reen, best known for directing Darlings, had been brought on board for the second season alongside Nitya Mehra. The new season sees Ishaan Khatter return as Prince Aviraaj Singh, with Sini Shetty and Gurfateh Pirzada joining the cast. Nora Fatehi is also set to return.

The second season has already seen a few significant changes, both in front of and behind the camera. The first season, which premiered in May 2025, was directed by Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana. While Bhumi Pednekar, who played Sophia Shekhar opposite Ishaan Khatter’s Aviraaj Singh in the first season, will not return for the second chapter, Sini Shetty has joined the cast as the new female lead. Reports at the time attributed Bhumi’s exit to a creative overhaul, with the second season shifting focus from the central romance towards the dynamics of the royal family.

The director is ready, the script is ready, but the producers have hit pause on the long-anticipated biopic on legendary screen icon Madhubala. Reason: a budgetary rethink. Sources close to the project informed mid-day that while director Jasmeet K Reen of Alia Bhatt’s Darlings (2022) fame is all set to go, the producers are reassessing the financial blueprint of the film, which is being produced by Sony, along with Brewing Thoughts and Madhubala Pictures.

Initially envisioned as a lavish period production with an estimated budget of Rs. 80 to Rs. 100 crore, the makers now hope for a more commercially viable model.

“The period detailing, elaborate costumes, and set designs had ballooned the budget to a point where the recovery math didn’t add up. The team is now actively working to find a middle path that does justice to Madhubala’s grandeur without compromising the project’s sustainability,” reveals an insider.

The biopic, in the news for years, gained momentum when Reen came on board. Her approach to female-led narratives made her a natural choice for the project.

“The script is a beautiful tribute, which is emotional and rich in detail. No one wants a project that bleeds money. So, the budget has been slashed to half,” adds the source. Conversations with leading female actors remain on hold until finances are locked in.

“The film deserves to be made. The hope is to take the project on floors by the second quarter of this year,” says the insider.

Men in thick, flowing beards. Shotguns that seemingly come with infinite shells. Fights on top of helipads, trucks, bridges. A background score that drowns out everything else. And, a box office register that doesn’t stop ringing for angry young bros.

This roughly sums up the year’s blockbusters. Of course, nothing matches the misogyny of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s A-rated ‘Animal’. It has the male character cracking jokes around menstruation, gratuitous violence and even the hero asking a woman to lick his shoes to prove her love for him.

“Like revenge tourism, 2023 was the year for revenge movie-watching in India,” says Girish Johar, Mumbai-based producer and film business expert. “Action has always been a safe bet. However, after the pandemic, filmmakers and producers know they need big-scale, larger-than-life films to pull audiences out of their homes. Other types of films, they prefer to watch on OTT,” he adds.

The statistics bear this out. The top seven grossers in 2023 all belonged to the action genre, including ‘Jawan’, ‘Pathaan’, ‘Gadar 2’, ‘Jailer’, ‘Leo’, ‘Animal’ and ‘Tiger 3’. ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’, which took the eighth spot, stood out as one of the only rom-coms that emerged a hit. There were several female-led films such as Kareena Kapoor Khan-starrer ‘Jaane Jaan’, Tabu-led ‘Khufiya’ etc but they did not hit the theatres and were directly released on OTT platforms.

Through the years, Hindi cinema’s male protagonists have shown several shades. The 1950s showed a tempered masculinity, gentled by the trauma of independence and partition, hopeful about the future. Think of Guru Dutt’s romantic artist — philosophical and doubting. Raj Kapoor’s tramp is bewildered by industrial modernity, Dev Anand is a louche charmer. None of them is particularly muscular, some even have an androgynous quality. In these early movies, there was a resistance to social norms, a questioning and conflict around tradition, even as many films implicitly reaffirmed gender conventions.

Of course, the straitjackets of virtue and good-girlism confined women. They were usually props and symbols, whether as deified mothers and bhabhis, vamps and ‘items’, or even ‘heroines’: love interests with no independent character arcs or complexity. But the men had range.

The ’70s moved from Rajesh Khanna singing about lost love, to Amitabh Bachchan’s smouldering rage at unfulfilled promises to the working classes. In the ’80s, this subaltern male anger turned into a darker thing, with lawlessness and vigilantism as central themes. It was pretty much standard to show stalking and harassment as a prelude to love. The movies lingered over rape, showing it as a titillating spectacle, and as a method to teach other men a lesson, as a loot of izzat.

The post-liberalization era saw themes of love and rebellion emerge, with romantic heroes grabbing the spotlight. However, a 2002 study of Hindi movies from the late ’90s said moderate sexual violence against female characters was “depicted as fun, enjoyable, and a normal expression of romantic love”. Now, a new hype masculine ideal has gathered strength.

While the depiction of violence in films isn’t new, the present surge marks a ‘shift’ in the use of it, says Geetanjali Chadha, professor of gender and cinema at Ashoka University. “During the ‘angry young man’ era, the violence had a purpose. It was more about the difference between the rich and the poor, and made the audience root for the underdog. Today, it’s closely tied to nationalism, strength, and glamour. The women too are no longer passive, often playing a key role in accepting it,” she says.

Economics plays a role too, points out Shrayana Bhattacharya, economist and author of ‘Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh’, which analyzed the moviegoing experience in India through the lens of gender and class. “Because men hold 82% of the country’s income, movies that depict strong men may do better at the box office than those that depict more vulnerable men or stronger female parts,” she explains.

However, while the action genre means good business, it has also raised questions about the shrinking space for women moviegoers and women’s stories. Paridhi, a 22-year old from Delhi, says the rise of such ‘alpha male’ characters, shrinks her options. “The problem is not with violence, but the glorification of it. I also went to watch ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Jawan’ in the theatres, but with ‘Animal’, the clips really made me uncomfortable. Looking at its collections, other male actors will definitely gravitate towards this genre too.”

However, Nikhil Taneja, co-founder of youth-centred media organization Yuvaa, and host of the podcast ‘Be A Man, Yaar’, says he isn’t convinced that hypermasculinity is the only thing that works. “There’s a space for alternative conversations, even in action films. In ‘Pathaan’, for instance, Shah Rukh Khan has a female boss, and is saved by a female spy. In ‘Jawan’, he has an army full of young women,” he points out.

However, he adds that it’s important to understand why many young males today are tilting towards ‘alpha male’ content, espoused not only by films like ‘Animal’ and ‘Kabir Singh’, but also podcasters such as Andrew Tate. “I have interacted with over 15,000 students across campuses in the last four years for research work. While women dealing with various forms of patriarchy are often able to find sisterhood and community, men have told me they lack positive communities to talk about loneliness, which leads to bitterness, anger, and violence,” he says.

In a scenario like this, they often turn to characters they can relate to, or those who vindicate their emotions, he says, adding that therefore, filmmakers should have a certain degree of accountability of what they’re putting out there.

“Toxic characters should be represented on screen, but they have to be self-aware and have context. For instance, in films like ‘Darr’ and ‘Anjaam’, everyone knew SRK was the bad guy and he met his fate in the end. However, in some films being made today, if the directors put a cool background track as the character commits violence, they make it a character worth aspiring for. Men look at it and think it’s cool.”

Jasmeet K Reen,, writer of the critically acclaimed ‘Darlings’, feels that artistic freedom is paramount, and the audience can be the only judge. Her Alia Bhatt-starrer depicted a woman breaking free of a marriage filled with physical and psychological abuse. Some scenes were graphic, and the writer grappled with how to depict them.

“Every filmmaker has their own ideology which, whether they like it or not, reflects in their films. If I’m making ‘Darlings’, what I feel, what my ethics are, what I feel about sexism, what I feel about gender, what I feel about violence, it will show in the film. It also means that everybody has a distinct voice and I cannot control how other people should tell their stories,” she says.

When Darlings director Jasmeet K Reen briefed Vijay Varma on his role, she explained that the character should be able to evoke dread merely by walking into a room. The violence, she stated, should be “felt” rather than shown on screen.

“You feel the dread, but you barely see any violence inflicted by Hamza [Varma’s character]. He gets beaten up more than he beats up people, but the fear still works,” reflects Varma, who is nominated in the Best Actor: Film category at the upcoming mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards.

In Netflix’s dark comedy, the actor plays a bullied ticket-collector who vents out his frustration by abusing his wife Badrunissa, played by Alia Bhatt. He read Hamza as a man who wants to become better, but cannot overcome his cynical and abusive tendencies. Admitting that it was  a risky choice, he is glad that the role has won him audience’s love and critical acclaim.

“There aren’t too many men who would choose such a role. I took the chance, and believed in Jasmeet. I felt that the story [of domestic violence] needed to be told.”

He credits Bhatt for elevating his performance. “Alia is a hands-on actor. None of her takes is similar; she always throws surprises at you.”

Darlings has not only brought new audiences to Varma, but also diverse offers to pick from. “A few years ago, I decided to focus on doing lead parts. Darlings is one of the first steps towards that. There is also a constant pursuit to [choose] material that surprises me.”

Vijay Varma has been nominated in the Best Actor (Male): Film category for Darlings.

The other nominees are:

- Diljit Dosanjh (Jogi)

- Paresh Rawal (Sharmaji Namkeen)

- Rajkummar Rao (Monica O My Darling)

- Rishi Kapoor (Sharmaji Namkeen)

- Vicky Kaushal (Govinda Naam Mera)

There are 16 categories that the public can vote in. Log on to www.radiocity.in/hitlistott to cast your vote.

Voting lines close on February 22.

A bullied ticket collector by day, who vents out his frustration by physically abusing his wife at night, only to offer promises the morning after of reforming himself — it couldn’t have been easy to play the toxic Hamza with conviction. But Vijay Varma doesn’t hit a single false note, shining brightly alongside Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah in Darlings. Days into the film dropping on Netflix, Varma says his character is bombarded with hate online — a sure-shot sign that he has done justice to the role.

“Hamza is getting all the hate. People are saying, I want to kill him, punch him and what not! But the actor in me is winning a lot of love. That is reassuring when I take chances like these. There are also women who are championing me for essaying a part like that, which called out the monsters in their lives.”

In a recent interview to mid-day, director Jasmeet K Reen said that the writers spent months building and humanising Hamza (What is art for if not to trigger conversation, Aug 8). When Varma stepped into the role, he dived deeper into the process. “I had a few questions: Why does he raise his hand on Badru [Bhatt’s character]? Why does he shout at her? I had a chat with Jasmeet about it. But I didn’t judge the character when I was playing it, because that would be a disservice.”

Darlings marks his second collaboration with Bhatt after Gully Boy (2019). He is astounded by her ability to grasp the nuances of her character during prep. “Alia does so much math [about the role] in her head that she is almost possessed. She is constantly calculating [her character’s] moves. She will be in that zone until she has figured it out. I had the best time collaborating with her.”

Darlings is a product of many things new — a new producer in Alia Bhatt, a new director in Jasmeet K Reen, and most importantly, a new lens through which the horrors of domestic abuse are captured. Beneath the humour, Bhatt, Shefali Shah and Vijay Varma’s dark comedy tackles the sensitive subject of domestic violence in marriages. When we connect with Reen, who has also co-written the Netflix film with Parveez Sheikh, we start our chat with how she brought authenticity to the subject at hand. 

“When I wrote the story, I knew I wanted to do something different with the subject. I played with structure, and mixed a couple of genres. I stopped watching [movies]. I didn’t want this to be referenced from anything at all. This story comes from life — one has grown up seeing violence of varied forms in Indian families,” says the first-time director.

Before she told the story of Bhatt’s Badrunissa and her mother, essayed by Shah, Reen understood it was important to reflect the fear that women inherently carry. She elaborates, “We have a scene where Badru says, ‘Sab ladko ko line mein khada karke goli maar deni chahiye.’ That line comes from everyone we know who has felt helpless anger. But the character is so innocent that she gets scared when the cop calls [soon after], because as women, we are not even allowed to think bad things, let alone execute them. I wanted it to be a funny scene, but the after-feeling had to be sadness that people live in such fear.”

Reen sat on the film’s idea for a year before taking it to Sheikh. It took them two years to crack the milieu and the characters. Thus was born Badrunissa, who after years of suffering abuse at husband Hamza’s hands, makes an audacious plan with her mother to avenge it. “I wanted the characters to be simple and sweet,” says Reen.

She further explains, “Badru is the daughter of a single mom, and has never seen her father. So, when she has a husband who loves her, she wants to go all out. She believes he has only one problem — alcoholism. Badru has told herself that if she loves him, he will change. Most women operate from that romantic optimism. Alia is the kind of actor who keeps talking about her role and absorbs every word you say. In front of the camera, she gave life to the character I had in mind.”

It was critical for the writer duo to humanise Varma’s character, Hamza. Reen says Varma discussed his part with them for four months, understanding his impulses and motivations. “Hamza is essentially an entitled man who doesn’t know he is doing wrong. He feels he gives Badru freedom and that she will never leave him. His insecurity of money and status, coupled with the fact that his boss bullies him, comes out on Badru. When the character is saying sorry, he means it. My favourite scene is where he convinces her to return to him, luring her with the [promise of a] child. Men like Hamza will charm you into believing them. We wanted Vijay to bring the layers, and depict how men control women with manipulation.”

The dark comedy hasn’t gone down well with some men’s rights activists, who believe it promotes the idea of domestic violence against men. The call for boycott had started from stray groups on Twitter even before the movie was released. How does she react to it? “We are happy that people are talking about it. What is art for if not to trigger a conversation? If a conversation has begun, the film has done its job.”

Bhatt with director Reen

In matter of a month, Shefali Shah went from being the director of a short film featuring her to a pivotal character in Alia Bhatt’s first production, Darlings, director Anubhuti Kashyap’s Doctor G (backed by Junglee Pictures) with Ayushmann Khurrana, and being a parallel lead in director Suresh Triveni’s Jalsa, co-starring Vidya Balan. The latter went on floors recently.

Calling her choices impulsive and instinctive, the actress elaborates on what she looks for in a project. She says, “I don’t know the boxes, but it has to turn me inside out; it has to hit me in the gut. My decisions are impulsive and instinctive, not based on any math of where this film can take me and what it can do for my image. If I find it churning my insides, I do it.” She adds, “Professionally, I have not been in a happier space than this. But I waited really long for it, so be it. Things have changed and I am being offered strong lead and parallel lead roles.”

Shefali shares, “I have some fabulous scripts to work on and really good directors to team up with. People write roles for me which is great. You know, I was lucky to have found appreciation for my work, but it didn’t translate into what I wanted. Waiting for something worthwhile was tough, but after a certain stage of maturity, I realised that the work I wanted to do would come rarely, but I also knew it would be worth the wait.”

Shefali, known for her stellar performance in the Emmy Award-winner Delhi Crime, is looking forward to Jalsa as it will have her sharing screen space with another powerhouse performer. “I really want to know what it will be like to share the screen with Vidya Balan, who I admire tremendously,” she says, adding, “I adore her, totally. I have met her a few times in the past socially, but we have never collaborated on something. Jalsa is the perfect story for that.”

Besides the excitement of teaming up with a contemporary, the actress is working with the new-generation actress Alia Bhatt as a co-star and producer. Shefali says, “Darlings, a fantastic project by Jasmeet K Reen, is in such a fun space. Alia, Vijay Verma and Roshan Mathew... It’s a fun team to work with. It’s also a genre that I have never done before. In fact, people have an image of me being this very serious person, so I think they will be surprised to see this wicked dark comedy.”

Busy moving from one project to another, Shefali Shah is working at a frenetic pace, but she has no complaints. The actor has not only resumed the shoot of 'Human', but has also begun workshops for 'Darlings', which sees her sharing space with Alia Bhatt.

Her attachment to the film is evident as she begins the chat by saying, “Darlings is a fantastic script. Jasmeet [K Reen, director] is clear about what she wants. Alia, Vijay [Varma] and the rest of the cast have been doing readings. Thank God it wasn’t over a Zoom call, because I find it impersonal. [In our reading], we have reached that stage where we are going [above and beyond] the written word. As an artiste, it’s fun when you let the script go, and keep [improvising].”

The drama was originally slated to roll in February. “We lost two months because of the lockdown. 'Darlings' will go on floors anytime now; we will shoot in a bio-bubble.”

Set against the backdrop of a conservative lower-middle-class neighbourhood, 'Darlings' tells the story of a mother and daughter who find courage and love in exceptional circumstances. It’s the “wicked humour” that drew the actor to the film. “It talks about something important, but at the same time, it’s funny, dark and wicked. I was looking for something like this for a long time, but [makers] often come to me only with serious roles.”

The movie marks Bhatt’s foray into production. Lauding the actor for broadening her horizons, Shah says she is inspired by the young generation’s go-getter attitude. “These kids are focused; they know what they want and how to get it. When I was young, I didn’t even know I wanted to act. I started doing theatre, after which I landed a serial. It took me years to realise this is my calling. I never planned my career until recently. I never met directors, nor did I have an agent. Today, people create opportunities for themselves, which is progressive. Otherwise, as an actor, you have to keep waiting for a good script to be offered to you.”