Naseeruddin Shah says those habitual to oppose his views will never
understand his point of view.In recent years, the Mughal era has been constantly vilified by
ministers of the ruling government. From seeking to change 40 villages with
‘Mughal-era’ names to renaming the historic Mughal Gardens at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan as ‘Amrit Udyan’, there have been attempts to alter
history.
In times of polarisation, comes ZEE5’s original series Taj – Divided by
Blood, featuring Shah as King Akbar. The show is billed as a “revelatory
tale about the inner workings and the succession drama” that played out in
the chambers of the Mughal empire.
When asked how does he look at the country which seems to believe that all
things wrong with it dates back to the Mughals, Shah observed 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 veteran said the idea that Mughals were the embodiment of all things
evil just showcases one’s lack of understanding of the country’s history.
“Sure they are not the only ones. In school unfortunately, history dwelled
mainly on the Mughals or the British. We knew about Lord Hardy, Lord
Cornwallis and about the Mughal emperors, but we didn’t know about the
Gupta , or the Maurya or the Vijayanagara Empire, the history of the
Ajanta caves, or about the northeast. We didn’t read any of these things
because history was written by the Englishmen or the Anglophiles and I
think that’s really unfair”, he said.
