Disney Plus Hotstar premiered its magnum opus “The Empire” last night at midnight. Within hours of the premiere of the show, the hashtag “Uninstall Hotstar” began trending on Twitter, with almost 20,000 tweets using the hashtag to join the chatter. The hashtag is a way for people to convey their displeasure with the new Hotstar show “The Empire”, which they think is glorifying the Mughals.
For the uninitiated, “The Empire” is a show produced by Nikkhil Advani’s Emmay Entertainment for Disney Plus Hotstar. “The Empire” narrates the story of the rise of the Mughal Empire in India, right from Babur’s first conquest of Delhi, to the rapid expansion and dominance of the Mughals in Northern India. The screenplay is an adaptation of the book, “Empire of the Moghul”, written by Alex Rutherford. The Empire stars Kunal Kapoor as Babur, along with Dino Morea, Shabana Azmi, Drashti Dhami, Aditya Seal, Sahher Bambba and Rahul Dev in crucial roles.
The debate over “Glorifying Mughals” had been raging over the internet even before “The Empire” began streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar; maybe, ever since the platform announced the release date of the show. It was further fanned by comments made by Bollywood director Kabir Khan several days ago, in an interview with an online publication. To quote Kabir Khan verbatim, he said,
“I find it hugely problematic and disturbing, because what really makes me upset is that it’s being done just to go with the popular narrative. If you want to demonise the Mughals, please base it on some research and make us understand why; why they were the villains that you think they were. Because if you do some research and read history, it’s very tough to understand why they have to be villainised. I think they were the original nation-builders, and to write them off and say they murdered people… But what are you basing it on? Please point out the historical evidence.”
Kabir Khan’s comments outraged a section of readers, who condemned the filmmaker online for what is “Glorifying Mughals” in their opinion. And within a day of Kabir Khan’s comments, The Empire landed on Disney Plus Hotstar, to add fuel to the already raging fire. Very soon, #UninstallHotstar began trending on Twitter, and continues to trend even as we write this piece.
What do you think of the public outrage against “The Empire”? Is it justified? Let us know in the comments.