{"id":4753,"date":"2007-09-28T16:09:18","date_gmt":"2007-09-28T21:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=4753"},"modified":"2007-09-28T14:14:40","modified_gmt":"2007-09-28T19:14:40","slug":"shah_jahan_king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2007\/09\/28\/shah_jahan_king\/","title":{"rendered":"Shah Jahan Kingsley"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Following upon the stunning artistic and commercial success of “The Last Legion” (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, UB40<\/a>), co-stars Sir Ben and Aishwarya Rai<\/strike> Bachchan<\/a> have agreed to team up again, this time as Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal<\/a>. Colin Firth is rumored to be considering the role of Aurangzeb . <\/p>\n\n

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My fans will watch me in anything because I am TMBWITW<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n\n

The casting of Sir Ben is, in my mind, absolutely perfect. Shah Jahan’s marriage to Mumtaz at 19 has become a symbol of eternal love. Sir Ben also is a man who never stopped believing in love, having married his fourth wife at age 63<\/a>, after the following:<\/p>\n\n

“three failed marriages, four children by two different wives, a long-term live-in lover who was replaced by wife No 3 (also nearly half his age), whom he then jettisoned after discovering her embracing her lover in a photograph on the internet in 2005.” [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n

Shah Jahan built a giant marble tomb to house his wife’s remains, as if she was a figure from ancient Egypt. Sir Ben feels the same way about wife #4:<\/p>\n\n

“Daniela is like an ancient mythological princess. She has great deep dignity. She moves like an ocean liner…” [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Shah Jahan is known not by his given name (“Prince Khurrum Shihab-ud-din Muhammad”) but by his title Shah Jahan or “King of the World” [wiki<\/a>]. Krishna Bhanji cuts a regal figure and is also known by his title:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Sir Ben and his Mumtaz<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n

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Sir Ben … [insists] that he be addressed as “Sir Ben” at all times. The title was included on his passport and other documentation after he received a knighthood in 2001, and he even signs emails SBK(as in Sir Ben Kingsley). Someone who unwittingly called him “Mr Kingsley” at a party received a stinging rebuke. “He looked at me in disgust,” the guest told the Mail, “then said: ‘You should call me Sir Ben’ and cut me dead.” [Link<\/a>, rebuttal<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n

I can’t imagine a better bit of casting. <\/p>\n\n

Related posts: Time for some Ben Kingsley<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following upon the stunning artistic and commercial success of “The Last Legion” (1, 2, UB40), co-stars Sir Ben and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have agreed to team up again, this time as Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. Colin Firth is rumored … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}