The Royals Season 2 begins shoot in Udaipur with Sini Shetty joining Ishaan Khatter

The Netflix series The Royals is moving into its second season, and the cameras are about to roll. Shooting begins in Udaipur this week, with a fresh romantic equation at the heart of the new chapter. Ishaan Khatter returns in the lead role.

The big change is the female lead. Sini Shetty, the Miss India 2022 winner, steps in as the new leading lady opposite Ishaan, taking over from Bhumi Pednekar. Sini was also a finalist at the Miss World contest and is a trained dancer.

Reports say Sini beat several other actresses to the part, with names like Radhika Madan, Alaya F and Nitanshi Goel also in the running. She is reportedly coming off a Dharma Productions film shot in Kashmir earlier this year, and is said to have turned down offers from Sajid Nadiadwala, Balaji Telefilms and Excel Productions before signing these two projects.

The third point of the triangle is Gurfateh Pirzada. He joins Ishaan and Sini as the other male lead in the romantic storyline, and that triangle is being set up as one of the central threads of the season. Nora Fatehi, who was part of the first season, is also coming back.

Gurfateh has been picking contrasting parts lately. He played freedom fighter Bagha Jatin in The Revolutionaries, and took on the dual roles of Karan and Arjun opposite Sana Thampi in Kiran Rao's segment of Lust Stories 3. He is also set to return as Neel in Call Me Bae 2, with Adhoore Hum Adhoore Tum and the period political drama Dynasty lined up.

Season 1, which premiered in May 2025, followed Prince Aviraaj Singh, whose comfortable life falls apart when his father's death leaves the royal family buried in debt. To hold on to the palace, he teams up with Sophia Kanmani Shekhar, played by Bhumi Pednekar, an entrepreneur who turns the estate into Royal BnB, a luxury stay for commoners. Sakshi Tanwar, Zeenat Aman, Vihaan Samat and Kavya Trehan were also part of that cast.