‘I Hope the Season to Love is Back!’

She shares that playing the sassy and ambitious haute boss Sophia Shekhar was simply irresistible. “This genre of rom-coms is my top favourite .This is a romance that’s so rare. I loved my character, who is powerful and stubborn, but also nurturing and loving. I picked up nuances from all these wonderful actors (Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar) I shared screen space with while shooting.”

The Royals is a modern-day romance between a prince (Ishaan Khatter) from a disintegrating royal family, and a sassy entrepreneur who hopes to give his crumbling palace a facelift.

Bhumi is happy she finally got to a play a character she could relate to. “I got a chance to play with my wardrobe and make-up. I have never chased playing an urban girl or any other character, because my focus has always been on scripts. In my previous work I had the tools of dialect, costumes. The characters were far removed from me, and my reality. So I didn’t need to reveal anything about me through my characters, and that was a comfort. But this character was so close to me, be it her ideology, beliefs, or desires. She has a lot of fire, like I do. I found ease in the fact that this was me, and it’s okay for the audience to see me for who I am.”

The recent spate of dark content and the dearth of light-hearted romantic stories have raised the question whether Bollywood has forgotten how to make the classic rom-com. “In the 90s most of our superstars made their careers on the back of romance. Today, I feel the genre is just not taken seriously. It is truly tough convincing people you are in love with a stranger. But I feel there are always seasons for a genre. I hope the season to love is back. In the midst of all these testosterone-driven stories, it will be nice to get a breath of fresh air with love stories.”