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Podcast: Bharatvaarta
Episode: Why Bollywood Glorifies Akbar and Ignores Ch. Shivaji Maharaj | Medha Bhaskaran
Description: In this hard-hitting follow-up, author Medha ji dismantles pop-culture myths around the Mughals and revisits why Ch. Shivaji Maharaj’s revolution mattered. She challenges romanticized screen portrayals (Salim the “hero,” Akbar the “liberal”) with court chronicles and references, then contrasts them with Ch. Shivaji’s governance—protecting civilians, punishing molestation, and easing agrarian burdens. We also examine the human cost of imperial monuments—extraction from farmers, enslavement, famine—and ecological shifts like poppy displacing native crops, alongside Jahangir’s own tally of mass hunts. Finally, we address textbook narratives that blur the Maratha handover to the British—and why remembering accurately...