Tanisha Saxena
Taj: Divided By Blood is an Indian period drama, which chronicles the saga of the succession that played out within the four walls of the Mughal Empire. The drama is divided into ten episodes, each unfolding and revealing the inner schemings.
It all begins with the prophecy of Shaikh Salim Chisti (played by Dharmendra) after the siege of Chittor in 1568 that the emperor Akbar (played by Naseeruddin Shah) would soon have not one, but three sons! However, he cautioned that the real threat to him wouldn’t be from enemies but from his own.
Soon in one spectacular shot the camera rushes to a few decades later in the majestic abode of emperor Akbar in Agra. Salim (played by Aashim Gulati), Akbar’s eldest son whose name he had decided after Shaikh Salim Chisti is seen enjoying the company of concubines.
Moments later Akbar announces that the firstborn son will not be guaranteed the throne. Further, he says that his three sons have to prove themselves in order to become a successor. Their calibre will eventually decide who’s worthy to sit on the throne. The three sons are polar opposites from one another. Prince Salim is interested in the royal lifestyle amidst the concubines and drinks more than the mantle of emperor, while Prince Murad (played by Taha Shah) is merciless, tough and adamant that the thakte-taj is his.
The third son Prince Daniyal (played by Shubham Kumar Mehra) is perceived as someone with a pure heart. He is a religious and spiritual being, who doesn’t seem to take the path of violence but it just seems!
The twist in the plot comes when this battle of succession is interrupted by the arrival of Anarkali (played by Aditi Rao Hydari). Salim and Anarkali come together as the episodes unfurls but Akbar is clear that they aren’t meant to meet. “Badshah banna kiske naseeb mein hogi, usse apni khushiyaan kurbaan karni hi padti hai (Whoever is destined to be king, they must sacrifice their happiness to achieve it),” says Akbar. The course of action furthermore fills the path of succession for the three of the sons with even more difficult situations.
Naseeruddin Shah as Akbar, oozes confidence and delivers a fantastic performance as the unflinching emperor. We cannot think of anyone else, who has played it better. He gets under the emotional skin of the character and makes it his own. The writers have done a safe job and have given us nuanced writing. Akbar has shades of softness which is visible in some scenes. He is shown as a vulnerable, passionate, ferocious, merciless emperor, who is also a sexually driven person. Shah makes us feel Akbar’s inner conflicts crystal clear with his terrific acting. He makes us feel that within this grandeur there can be turmoil.
Talking of the Queen’s in the drama, the three of them Queen Jodha Bai (played by Sandhya Mridul), Queen Salima (played by Zareena Wahab) and Mehr un Nisa (played by Sauraseni Maitra) have depth as characters. Unlike the other historical films Taj: Divided by Blood gives us a sneak peek into the human side of these queens, how they exactly feel and are treated inside the chambers of the Mughals. Anarkali and Salim’s chemistry is beautiful. Aditi Rao Hydari is elegant. She is courageous with enough grace.
In her scenes with Akbar she has wonderfully restrained and used her eyes expertly to communicate so much. In fact, her emotions for her own child are controlled and measured as expected from her character. Watching Hydari as Anarkali definitely leaves us sad (positively) and in want of more from her on the screen.
The show’s best moments are many. For instance, the scene where Salim sees Anarkali as his sight transfixed or the scene when Prince Daniyal finds the truth of his mother and the way his persona shifts. Even that delicate scene in which Prince Salim’s closest friend is dead and reveals to his wife an awkward truth about his education. Or then that moving scene in which Prince Murad brutally kills one of the sons of Mirza Hakim (played by Rahul Bose) in front of his eyes and he is screaming helplessly.
Cinematographers, Simon Temple and Tejal Shetye have beautifully filled the frames with beautiful palaces and scenery. Moments into the show and you feel immediately transported to the battlefield, to the emperor’s court, to Harems or private chamber of the queen’s, and most importantly, into the mind and heart of Mohammed Jalaluddin Akbar himself, where he grapples with the turmoil of the family and his sons precisely.
Having said that, the drama could have bounced along to good songs which unfortunately didn’t. Overall, the drama is engaging and nuanced.
