Taj: Divided by Blood

Taj: Divided by Blood is an Indian period drama streaming television series produced by Contiloe Pictures for ZEE5. The series stars Dharmendra, Naseeruddin Shah, Rahul Bose, Aditi Rao Hydari, Zarina Wahab, Sandhya Mridul, Aashim Gulati and Taaha Shah in primary roles. It is produced by Abhimanyu Singh, Roopali Singh and William Borthwick. The first season premiered on ZEE5 on 3 March 2023. The second season, titled Taj: Reign of Revenge, premiered on 12 May 2023.

Taj: Divided by Blood
Set in the 16th century, the story follows Akbar and the war of succession amongst his 3 sons: Salim, Murad, and Daniyal. It is a twisted tale of the struggle for power filled with dangerous politics, poetic beauty, torrid romances, cold treachery, and bloodshed. The show unravels multiple layers of each character in the Mughal dynasty. The series dramatizes the rise and fall of the various generations of the Mughal Empire, showcasing both the beauty as well as the brutality of the dynasty.

Taj Season 2: Reign of Revenge
The season charters Salim’s journey from being the exiled enemy of the Mughal empire to seeking blood and revenge in an attempt to become the next Emperor. On this dark, dangerous, and destructive path, he is surrounded by enemies from all sides with few allies like his new love interest - Meherunnissa.

Cast

 * Dharmendra as Sheikh Salim Chisti
 * Naseeruddin Shah as Akbar
 * Aashim Gulati as Salim
 * Aditi Rao Hydari as Anarkali
 * Sauraseni Maitra as Mehrunnisa
 * Rahul Bose as Mirza Muhammad Hakim
 * Zarina Wahab as Salima Sultan Begum
 * Sandhya Mridul as Jodha Bai
 * Taha Shah Badussha as Murad
 * Aaryama Salim as Young Akbar
 * Shubham Kumar Mehra as Daniyal Mirza
 * Pankaj Saraswat as Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
 * Digambar prasad as Man Singh I
 * Mitansh Lulla as Khurram (season-2)
 * Jiansh Agarwal as Khusrau Mirza (season-2)
 * Suhani Juneja as young Arjumand Banu Begum
 * Rajat kaul as Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan (season-2)
 * Akshay agarwal as Amar Singh I (season-2)
 * Rouhallah Quazim as Sher Afgan Khan (season-2)
 * Arman khera as Mahabat Khan (season-2)
 * Anushka Luhar as Man Bai
 * Mir Sarwar as Bairam Khan
 * Tanvi Negi as Jagat Gossain
 * ActorsFirdaush as Hakim Hasan (season-2)
 * Janam Raj as Sahib Jamal
 * Subodh Bhave as Birbal
 * Akshat Mishra as Durjan
 * Pawan Chopra as Ghiyas Beg
 * Padma Damodaran as Ruqaiya Sultan Begum
 * Shivani Tanksale as Bakht-un-Nissa Begum
 * Aayam Mehta as Badayuni
 * Deepraj Rana as Maharana Pratap
 * Zachary Coffin as Father Monserrate
 * Sauyma Setia as young Mehrunnisa
 * Saurabh Selwal as young Asaf Khan

Production
The show was first announced in 2018.

Release
The first season premiered on ZEE5 on 3 March 2023. The second season premiered on 12 May 2023.

Promotion
The peek into the show was released by Dharmendra, when he shared that he is playing Sheikh Salim Chisti in this show. The logo was unveiled at a ceremony in Mumbai on 14 February. Subsequently, the trailer was launched on 17 February. The second season was announced with a trailer on 23 April 2023.

Reception
It received mostly positive reviews with praise for its performances (especially Shah’s), screenplay, dialogues and criticism for its visual effects.

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote "From the fifth episode on, you can see the series lose steam. The writing, which had kept us engaged till then, starts getting repetitive, which leads to the flaws which we had managed to ignore demanding our attention." Syed Firdaus Ashraf of Rediff.com rated 1.5/5 stars and wrote "Naseeruddin Shah, who plays Akbar, looks thoroughly disinterested as if he is only playing the part for a hefty fee. Rahul Bose is a complete misfit playing the jihadi Mirza Muhammad Hakim South Mumbai style. Aditi Rao Hydari as Anarkali looks lost and is unconvincing in her love for Salim."

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the series 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "Taj: Divided by Blood is crafted with diligence. Parts of the show are informed with enough drama and intrigue to perk things up. It, however, frequently feels a touch strained and repetitive. It is neither Mughal-e-Azam nor Game of Thrones."

Shilajit Mitra for The Hindu wrote "We get a mammoth battle sequence in Kabul near the start. Though immensely staged, it bored me to bits with its obvious choreography (first the archers come on, then the infantry, then the cannonballs...). Far more memorable, then, is this exchange between Akbar and his ministers, after he announces his plans for ‘Din-I-Illahi’. They look crestfallen until one of them calls for a change in conventional thinking."

Suchandra Bose for The Quint rated 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "One of the major pitfalls of the show is its incapacity to dig a little deeper into the characters – Salim is an opium lover with a heart of gold, Jodha (Sandhya Mridul) is a concerned mother, Akbar is a ruthless ruler – their characterization can be condensed in three to four adjectives."