Taj: Divided By Blood brings to life the medieval empire of Mughals in blood, gore and intrigue, with a liberal dose of fiction. The 10-episode series delves into the question of succession as an ageing Akbar tries to decide which of his three sons should get the throne. Embedded with this plot is the doomed love story of Salim and Anarkali, imortalised by K. Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam (1960). The potential is, however, not realised due to an average script.
Created by Abhimanyu Singh and directed by Ron Scalpello, Taj neither valourises nor thrashes the doings of Akbar. It adds intrigue and fictional elements to turn history into a spectacle. Written by William Borthwick, and Simon Fantauzzo, with story by Christopher Butera, the show tries to make a map of the times it is set in.
Taj opens by showing us the difference between Akbar’s three sons, Salim (Aashim Gulati), Murad (Taha Shah Badussha) and Daniyal (Shubham Kumar Mehra). The trio are engaged in their various pursuits. While Salim loves his ‘sharaab’ and ‘shabaab’, Murad takes away lives left, right and centre. Daniyal on the other hand is a five-time ‘namaazi’.
Naseeruddin Shah rules over the show with his immaculate performance. His range of emotions as the man who united kingdoms and established a powerful Mughal empire oscillates between trying to find a worthy successor and keeping his empire intact. Akbar, all his qualities aside, is also a flawed man who keeps a secret hidden in the palace in the form of Anarkali. And Naseeruddin Shah does justice to this character like no other.
Rahul Bose as Akbar’s rogue brother Hakim too shines, despite limited screen time. The scenes between him and Naseeruddin Shah are powerful, and add a layer to the character of Akbar.
Aashim Gulati shines in parts, but the love story between him and Anarkali (Aditi Rao Hydari) never takes off. With no poetry and fleeting meetings, the love story does not make any impact whatsoever. Aditi Rao Hydari mostly looks ethereal, and does not get to do a lot.
Taaha Shah’s character is mostly unidimensional and he does the most of what is given. Shubham Kumar Mehta’s character has a better arc than Salim’s or Murad’s. From a devout, gentle, almost scared young man, he turns vengeful as the palace’s best kept secret spills out. His inability to defend his homosexuality, and bullying and attack by Murad pushes him to blind rage.
Sandhya Mridul as Jodha Bai delivers a nuanced performance. She is subtle in moments of distress or anger as she negotiates her own place in Akbar’s harem, and tries to secure it by urging Salim to be a responsible son and worthy successor of the emperor. Zarina Wahab goes unutilised. She has hardly any dialogues, unlike Ruqiya and Jodha, and remains mostly in the background. The ensemble cast shines playing characters such as Birbal, Man Singh, Abul Fazal and Badayuni.
The enmity between Mirza Hakim (Rahul Bose) and Akbar foreshadows what is to eventually play out between Akbar’s sons. As multiple characters come together, be it loyal courtiers or sycophants or Rajput allies, both loyal and otherwise, the world of Taj is promising. But the writing lacks finesse to elevate the plot to a make it a memorable watch. It has the ingredients to work, but the writers seem clueless beyond a few episodes about how they want to take it forward.
One remarkable plot is the one capturing intrigue and the bloodshed in the harem. An uneasy truce exists between Jodha, Ruqaiya (Padma Damodaran) and Salima (Zarina Wahab) to maintain a balance in the harem. A hidden room within the harem contains the beautiful ‘kaneez’ Anarkali (Aditi Rao Hydari), imprisoned since she was fourteen. This subplot is where the show exercises its creative liberty the most.
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Taj dialogues, written by Ajay Singh, don’t do justice to the iconic historical characters. They are neither able to convey the cunningness of Abul Fazal and Badayuni, nor Salim’s love for Anarkali. Akbar’s interaction with his courtiers don’t make up for powerful dialogues. Even the famed Akbar-Birbal exchange is non-existent.
The episodes could have been crisper. Certain plot points keep coming back in multiple episodes. The opulence does not quite match that of films such as Jodha Akbar (2008), and war scenes come across more as fillers than part of the plot.
Despite its flaws, the show deserves a watch for Naseeruddin Shah’s performance, if nothing else. It is one of his finest, despite the script not coming close to his brilliance.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)