'The Empire' trailer: could this Kunal Kapoor starrer be India’s answer to 'Game of Thrones'?

A few days ago, Disney+ Hotstar announced a series called The Empire, and on Saturday its trailer was released on Twitter. The series highlights the story of a “king battling against enemies, fate, family, death and even himself, in search of his kingdom,” read the tweet. Through this series, Kunal Kapoor has made his digital debut while Mitakshara Kumar made his directorial debut. Kumar has also co-written this historical series with Bhavani Iyer. The series also stars Shabana Azmi, Dino Morea, Aditiya Seal, Rahul Dev, and Sahher Bambba.

The trailer features Kapoor as Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur, the Mughal emperor, and his struggle to protect his dynasty as well as his battle against the enemy armies. The first look of the series promises the series to be a visual extravaganza and an enthralling story. The series is shot across different locations in Uzbekistan and India with impressive action sequences.

The sets and landscapes shown in the series are both elaborate and vast. It contains eight episodes that are based on Alex Rutherford’s Empire of the Moghul: Raiders from the North. “The king of Ferghana dies in an accident and a young prince is now tasked with taking over the throne. It’s a time of great distress due to imminent danger from an evil warlord. An assassination attempt on the king that further deepens the worries about the vulnerability of Ferghana. The young king must now take responsibility for an entire kingdom,” reads the official synopsis of the series.

Talking about his character to Variety, Kapoor said, “We have heard many stories about Babur and the Mughals, but very little about who they were, where they came from and how they came into India. In this fictional take, this is a character with a lot of complexities, and that is what intrigued me as an actor. The trailer is just a small glimpse into the world of The Empire.”

Azmi, while talking about the series said she loves historical stories where women play important and strategic roles, like her own character in The Empire. She said that her character is confident and fierce.