Karan Johar’s take on the Mughal dynasty named Takht has incensed none other than Kangana Ranaut’s sister Rangoli, who has publicly accused the director of making Mughal invaders look sexy.
Calling Karan “dumb”, Rangoli writes: “And now not surprisingly our dear Karan Johar is making a film on this cruel bloodline, he will depict Aurangzeb cruelty through his abs and sexual relationships…These dumb filmmakers need to be stopped from sexual depiction of historic characters, before they start their crying drama and claim that democracy is dead and bring international shame to the nation, I request authorities to ask them to submit their scripts.”
While one cannot endorse Rangoli’s entreaty to “submit scripts to authorities”, there is some truth in her allegation of glamorising and sexualising the invader.
A major filmmaker who wishes to remain unnamed says the culture of glamorising plunderers began well before Takht. “Karan Johar came in later. We first had Sanjay Leela Bhansali portraying Alauddin Khilji as a ferocious macho man in Padmaavat; wild and raunchy, a sexy anti-hero. Karan, as we all know, aspires to be another Bhansali. If Bhansali made Alauddin sexy, Johar will make Aurangzeb sexier, especially as Vicky Kaushal is portraying the Mughul leader.”
