New Delhi, July 08: Akbar Khan is out to make history. When Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story, his celluloid extravaganza releases sometime later this year, it’ll be more than a mega exercise in designer dream peddling. Importantly, Khan’s multistarrer marks the return of a cinematic genre that had almost become extinct – the Muslim epic. Not since Razia Sultan, released almost two decades ago, has Bollywood attempted largescale fare on those lines. Khan’s logic on the viability of his ambitious multicrore multistarrer is simple: “Most films today have flair but lack the soul. A good historical is always a recipe to strike the right popular chord. So, this is the right time to make one. If narrated in an interesting way, a historical epic is bound to click.” His cast is enviable (Zulfi Sayed, debutant Sonya Jehan, Manisha Koirala, Arbaaz Khan, Pooja Batra and Kabir Bedi) but Khan isn’t commenting on the budget of his film, reportedly mounted on an economic scale that would make Devdas pale. “I somehow find it vulgar to associate cost with art,” is all that he’ll say for now.

And if Khan’s Taj Mahal indeed marks the return of the epic, Manisha, who plays Shah Jahan’s daughter Jahanara, looks at it as a positive sign: “It’s good that Taj Mahal comes after a long gap since the last historical. With trends shifting, it takes guts to make such a film.”
Of course, Khan tells you he isn’t taking chances. For the sake of authenticity, he has reportedly pored over Jehangirnama and Akbarnama as part of his research, and also encouraged his cast to read up their characters.

Perhaps, Taj Mahal will be a recipe of victory after all.