Bollywood loses the plot

This expansive and expensive retelling by Akbar Khan of the story of the Mughal Prince Khurram (Zulfikar Syed) and Mumtaz Mahal (Sonya Jehan), the woman for whom he built the Taj Mahal, has all the virtues and vices of the Bollywood epic. In its favour are the lavish costumes

and production design, good music from Naushad, India's great maestro, and huge battle scenes.

Against that, there's a screenplay that is pedantic in the extreme and the kind of characterisation that would make the best actor resemble a block of wood.

Kabir Bedi plays the prince as an old man, and even he seems like a fourth-former's King Lear.

Taj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story
Cert: cert12A