Naseeruddin Shah defends Mughals amid 'vilification', says they were not 'murderous invaders like Nader Shah, Taimur'

Naseeruddin Shah, who plays Mughal Emperor Akbar in the upcoming web series Taj, has said that the rulers from the medieval dynasty are villainised for no reason. The actor spoke in an interview while talking about his portrayal of the Mughal ruler and also discussed the discourse around the dynasty in modern Indian.

Mughals ruled over a large part of north India for close to three centuries starting 1526, although their absolute peak lasted in the 17^th century. Over the last few years, the discourse around them has changed from benevolent rulers to invaders and tyrants with many questioning their contributions to India.

Addressing this, Naseeruddin Shah told Indian Express, “It amuses me, because it is so utterly ridiculous. I mean, people can’t tell the difference between Akbar and a murderous invader like Nader Shah or Babar’s great grandfather Taimur. These were people who came here to loot, the Mughals didn’t come here to loot. They came here to make this their home and that’s what they did. Who can deny their contribution?”

The actor added that maybe Mughals have been over-glorified but they need not be villainised either. “So what people are saying is to some extent true, that the Mughals have been glorified at the expense of our own indigenous traditions. Perhaps that’s true, (But) there is no need to villainize them either. 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,” the veteran actor added.

Taj – Divided by Blood, is a new web series centred on the Mughal dynasty during the rule of Emperor Akbar and the civil war between his sons. The series also stars Aashim Gulati, Taha Shah Badussha, Shubham Kumar Mehra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sandhya Mridul, and Dharmendra. The show will begin streaming on Zee5 from March 3.