Abstract
The Hindi film industry (Bollywood) has been fascinated since practically its beginnings with revisiting history and rewriting it. Over the years, we have had several historical period films, and of them a number have been on Mughal emperors and princesses. This article tries to review the content of some of the celebrated movies based on the Great Mughals, produced after independence: starting with Mughal-e-Azam of K. Asif to Jodhaa Akbar of Ashutosh Gowariker and a recently shot historical serial. The basic argument of the article is that compared to Western endeavours, or even other Asian film-makers, the products of the Hindi film industry, or even the OTT platforms, have somehow failed in conforming to established historical facts while constructing their romances. The article examines how the films often depart from reality to reconstruct a mythical past. The recent tendency towards communalisation, however, is not here studied.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.