‘Taj: Divided by Blood’ series review: Naseeruddin Shah lords over a weary epic

Perhaps the best cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear is Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 epic Ran. “He was filming a story about sons rebelling against their father, and he was illustrating a time when all social values were in a state of chaos.” ZEE5’s Taj: Divided by Blood, another story of rebelling sons and a father, aims for a similarly vast canvas, conjuring a 16th-century Mughal Empire riven by degeneration and dread and intrigue. The series — directed by Ron Scalpello and screen-written by William Borthwick and Simon Fantauzzo – begins with Akbar’s siege of Chittor in 1568, which consolidated Mughal rule in northern India. Chisti heeds his prayers for an heir, but warns, “You shall fear no enemy, but one of your own.” Taj: Divided by Blood Creator: William Borthwick Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Dharmendra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab, Sandhya Mridul Episodes: 10 Runtime: 35-45 minutes Storyline: Mughal Emperor Akbar watches on as a desperate power struggle grips his three ambitious sons The story pulls ahead a few decades. Even as a feud brews at home — most explicitly between Salim and Murad — the brothers are forced to hold together, what with Rajput renegades pressing in and Akbar’s own brother Mirza Hakim mutinying in the north.