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Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has been speaking about the Mughal Empire and how it has been vilified by a few people because of misinformation. The actor will play the role of Mughal emperor Akbar in ZEE5’s upcoming web series, Taj: Divided By Blood. According to him, the show presents an “unexplored and unchartered take” on Mughal history. He believes that Akbar was “forward-thinking” and wanted people to be recognised for their actions instead of their “religious beliefs”.
While promoting Taj: Divided By Blood in a new interview, Shah claimed that Akbar wanted to create a society where people of varied beliefs could co-exist. “What sets Akbar apart from the others was his forward-thinking, his broad-mindedness and tolerance of all faiths. His attempt to create a new ethical order is wrongly referred to as a new religion, Din-e Elahi, a term never used by Akbar, but by Abul Fazl, his historian,” Shah told Zoom.
He added that Akbar wanted to create a “syncretic society” where people “would not be distinguished by their religious beliefs but by their deeds.” Shah said, “Akbar’s attempt was to propagate what he called Wahdat-e Elahi (oneness of the creator) no matter in what form he is worshipped.”
Shah had earlier spoken about how people today are unable to differentiate between “Akbar and a murderous invader like Nader Shah or Babar’s great grandfather Taimur.” He called the vilification of the Mughal empire “utterly ridiculous.”
Naseeruddin Shah, in an interview with indianexpress.com, said if the Mughal empire was so demonic, then those who oppose it should “knock down” the monuments they have built. “If everything they did was horrible, then knock down the Taj Mahal, knock down the Red Fort, knock down Qutub Minar. Why do we consider the Red Fort sacred, it was built by a Mughal. We need not glorify them, but there is no need to vilify them either.”
Taj: Divided By Blood features an ensemble cast that also includes Aditi Rao Hydari as Anarkali, Aashim Gulati as Prince Salim, Taha Shah as Prince Murad, Shubham Kumar Mehra as Prince Daniyal, Sandhya Mridul as Queen Jodha Bai, Zareena Wahab as Queen Salima, Sauraseni Maitra as Mehr un Nisa and Rahul Bose as Mirza Hakim.
It will start streaming on ZEE5 on March 3.
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