Nikkhil Advani: Shabana Azmi asked me to replace her in The Empire

From the pages of The Empire of the Moghul: Raiders from the North by Alex Rutherford comes the story of a young king who is faced with a seemingly impossible challenge as rampaging armies and brutal enemies threaten his destiny, throne, and even survival. One of India’s biggest video-streaming platforms Disney+ Hotstar joins hands with prolific filmmaker Nikkhil Advani of Emmay Entertainment to present the biggest show ever created in India, The Empire - a fiction saga of a warrior-turned-king. Mounted on an unrivalled scale that brings together India’s finest talent, spectacular visuals and a gripping narrative, The Empire is now streaming and has opened up to quite a mixed response.

Talking about Shabana Azmi’s dedication towards her role, showrunner of The Empire, Nikkhil Advani said, “A big onset moment for me, which is quite special, is where Shabana Azmi is hanging in a scene. She had to hang off a mountain and being a thorough professional, she did not allow me to use a body double for her, she hung over there for 3 hours.”

He further added, “Shabana Ji had just come out of a horrific accident and when we heard about it we had to take a couple of months break. She called me up and asked me to replace her and I told her that I will never replace her; I told her we will wait for you and you must recover and can come back - That’s the level of commitment that has been shown in the show.”

Directed by Mitakshara Kumar, The Empire is produced by Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani (Emmay Entertainment).