This 'Taj' wears a crown of thorns

As the final part of the series on Akbar and his feuding sons and grandsons releases, once again the audience is left wanting for more.

The pace which it had picked up in the first part of the current season is conspicuously absent now. Things again unfold languidly. Emperor Akbar (Naseeruddin Shah) is on the death bed and now it's time to pick up a successor for once and all. Shah Salim is still in the fray, it's just that this time he is competing with his sons.

This part banks on the metamorphosis of Salim into emperor Jahangir and Mehrunissa into Noor Jahan. However so poor is the writing and direction that this crucial and super interesting track is neither well-developed nor well-portrayed. What could have been the winning factor, unfortunately, exposes the chinks in the makers' armour.

Now that finale has been out and the story is completed it's time for a final assessment.

'Taj' is not as regal and riveting as it could have been or should have been. While the first season was pathetic, the second opened with a lot of promises. It indeed was a great improvement on its predecessor but the final portion again pushes it into a dark abyss of mediocrity.

Performance wise there is no major change. Aashim Gulati as the prince and king continues to hog the entire limelight. However, Aashim's performance is far from what an ideal performance should have been. There is just one scene after he returns from Lahore and asks everyone to prove their loyalty to him. When his one-eyed son Khusro refuses to accept him as his king, in a fit of rage he pierces a hot iron rod into the former's second eye. He does so while lecturing about truth. Aashim's performance lifts this scene and makes it one of the best in the entire series.

Similarly, when Sauraseni Maitra who plays Mehrunissa is named regent by Salim, she gets into the royal robe of a queen and adorns the throne. Maitra deserves all praise for getting the body language right here. She showed her potential as an actor in the last part but this time around she gets a meatless character to show any more spark.

Director Vibhu Puri deserves praise for mounting the series on a believable scale but at the same time, he fails to pack a royal punch in it.

The Mughal dynasty has been one of the most important dynasties India has witnessed. It's rule and it's aftermath still resonates loud and clear and very much are an integral part of the contemporary socio-political fabric. Hence a series detailing their life and times is always welcome. 'Taj' had the potential to be India's 'Crown'. Unfortunately, right now it's a lost opportunity. The franchise no longer seems riveting.

This time the 'Taj' is made of a crown of thorns. It's kept for display on Zee5.

Series: Taj, Season 2, Part 2
OTT: Zee5
Director: Vibhu Puri
Cast: Aashim Gulati, Naseeruddin Shah