Taj-Divided by Blood trailer: Full of sex and scandal, this is a story about Mughals like you’ve never seen it before

Zee5’s Taj-Divided by Blood is a new retelling of the Mughals, filled with sex and scandal, as Naseeruddin Shah’s Akbar tries to find a successor to his empire. The historical drama, which also stars Dharmendra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Aashim Gulati, Taha Shah, and Shubham Kumar Mehra, will be released on March 3. (Also read: Dharmendra looks almost unrecognisable as Sheikh Salim Chisti from Taj-Royal Blood)

In the trailer for Taj – Divided by Blood, Akbar announces that the firstborn son will not be guaranteed the throne. Instead, Akbar tells his three sons that he will look at worthiness when it comes time to choose a successor. The three are quite different from one another. Prince Salim (Aashim Gulati) is interested in the arts and royal lifestyle more than the mantle of emperor, while Prince Murad (Taha Shah) believes the throne only belongs to him. Prince Daniyal (Shubham Kumar Mehra) is perceived as someone with pure and without greed, when that is not the case.

Akbar’s advisor warns him of the unrest between his sons. The battle for succession is further shaken up with the arrival of Aditi Rao Hydari’s Anarkali. She and Salim grow close, and Akbar threatens Anarkali to stay in her place. Akbar also warns them all, “Badshah banna kiske naseeb mein ho, usse apni khushiyaan kurbaan karni hi padti hai (Whoever is destined to be king, they must sacrifice their happiness to achieve it).”

The trailer shows that this telling of the Mughal empire will include plenty of scandal, with the personal affairs and inner scheming going on in the palace. The brothers must weigh the cost of becoming king versus their personal happiness.

The grand period saga, which chronicles the quest for power, also features Sandhya Mridul as Queen Jodha Bai, Zarina Wahab as Queen Salima, Sauraseni Maitra as Mehr un Nisa, Rahul Bose as Mirza Hakim and Dharmendra as Sheikh Salim Christi. Taj-Divided by Blood’s ensemble cast also includes Subodh Bhave, Aayam Mehta, Deepraj Rana, Shivani Tanksale, Padma Damodharan, Pankaj Saraswat, Digambar Prasad and Zachary Coffin.

Produced by Contiloe Digital, Taj-Divided by Blood features William Borthwick as the showrunner. Simon Fantauzzo is the writer of the show and Ronald Scalpello is the director.