This web series is more about wine, opium, sex, more sex, gay love and incest, rues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

The Janissaries were members of an elite corps of the Ottoman army who were the first to lose their lives in the war.

Recruited as children from the Christian Balkan province, the Janissaries converted to Islam and deployed to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled from present-day Turkey.

At its peak, the empire’s borders stretched from Austria to Algeria and from what is now the Persian Gulf to Yemen.

For these Janissaries, Empire Before Brood was a way of life.

ZEE5 Taj: Divided by blood claims that Mughal rule in India was established in the same way with the help of the Rajputs, who acted as the Mughals’ janissaries.

None other than Man Singh, Akbar’s trusted military commander, is willing to sacrifice his son Durjan for the Mughal Empire.

When his sister Man Bai, wife of the future Emperor Jehangir, asks Man Singh how to hang his son, Man Singh replies tersely, “He is my Emperor and he always will be.”

In Taj: Divided by blood, Akbar is a disillusioned old man who hallucinates and awaits death. He cannot solve the domestic dispute between his three wives and his three sons.

The sons – Prince Salim, Prince Danyal and Prince Murad – are trying to outdo each other to take the throne, and Akbar is unsure who to hand over the reins of the empire to.

The plot offers only glimpses of Akbar’s reign, but goes in other directions far from the story.

This web series is more about wine, opium, sex, more sex, gay love and incest.

Yes, you read that right: incest.

The makers of Taj: Divided by blood are perhaps sure no one will raise a shindig for showing the Mughals indulging in incest not in Amrit Kaal India.

Naseeruddin Shah, who plays Akbar, looks completely disinterested as if he’s only playing the role for a hefty fee.

Rahul Bose is a complete misfit playing the jihadi style of Mirza Muhammad Hakim South Mumbai.

Aditi Rao Hydari as Anarkali looks lost and unconvinced in her love for Salim.

Sandhya Mridul as Jodhabai is a miscast, as is Zarina Wahab as Salima Begum, one of Akbar’s wives.

Aashim Gulati as Salim dances more like a drunk than acts like one.

The only redeeming actor is Taaha Shah as Murad, who fits into the role and delivers a mind-blowing performance that will leave you hooked.

A glimmer of hope comes in one of the episodes when Akbar speaks of his new humanity-based religion, Din-i-Ilahi (Divine Faith).

“No religion can claim supremacy over God and creation. This is the first rule of Din-i-Ilahi,” announces the Emperor.

Also here the Screenwriters fail in their research for in his lifetime Akbar was able to persuade only 17 people to convert to his new religion, Din-i-Ilahi.

In one of the final episodes, after falling into Salim’s arms, Anarkali tells the prince, “Some love stories should never have begun.”

One wishes for the makers taj had not yet begun their story.

Taj: Divided by blood Stream to ZEE5.

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