When Om Puri played Alauddin Khilji

There is a hue and cry about the depiction of Alauddin Khilji and Rani Padmavati in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film Padmavati. The filmmaker is said to have drawn inspiration from Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 16th century epic poem, Padmavat.

Om Puri

So did Shyam Benegal’s television show Bharat-Ek Khoj (1988), which had the late Om Puri play Khilji, while Rajendra Gupta and Seema Kelkar essayed the characters of Raja Ratan Singh and Padmavati respectively. Benegal depicted Khilji as brutal, but also an able administrator. He was shown keen to attack Chittor not for Padmini, but for its riches. History, as they say, is open to interpretations.

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