A new Hotstar series ‘The Empire’ is facing backlash on social media for reportedly glorifying Mughal invaders, Babur, who attacked India in the 16th century. Produced by Nikkhil Advani, the show features Shabana Azmi, Dino Morea, Drashti Dhami, Kunal Kapoor, Aditya Seal, Sahher Bambba and Rahul Dev in pivotal roles. 

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The epic drama, based on Alex Rutherford’s ‘Empire of the Moghul: Raiders from the North’, released on Friday. It is about a warrior-turned-king – a Mughal – who starts an empire in the valley of Ferghana to Samarkhand and beyond.

As soon as the trailer was out, social media users accused the makers of glorifying the Islamic invader Babur. Reportedly, Hotstar rejected grievance complaints against the series, which has led to an outrage on Twitter, making ‘Uninstall Hotstar’ the top trend. 

Here are some reactions:

As per media reports, the grievance officer appointed under Information Technology (Guidelines for intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 received complaints about the series but the officer rejected them claiming that the series is not glorifying Babur.

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“Those invaders who destroyed and looted India, killed Hindus, converted them in the name of their intolerant Jihad are being glorified in 2021? Is this what we are doing? Shame on you producers, writers, actors, etc.” Another asked, “Hotstar rejects grievance complaints against their series on Babur, claims they are not glorifying the Islamic invader. I have uninstalled, Have you??” a Twitter user commented. 

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Hotstar is yet to make an official statement. 

‘The Empire’ focuses on the rise and fall of Mughal Empire beginning from Babur. The story starts in Farghana where young prince Babur is made the king at a young age and he begins his campaign for the conquest of North India. 

It is not the first OTT series to face backlash. Saif Ali Khan’s ‘Tandav’, Nawazuddin Siddiqi starrer ‘Sacred Games’, Manoj Bajpayee’s ‘Family Man’ and Bobby Deol’s ‘Aashram 2’ also faced similar reactions from social media users.