The Taj Mahal: a national icon
of India, a masterpiece of architecture, and monument to a passionate love,
built by Shah Jahan, ruler of the Mughal Empire in 17th-century India. Under
Mughal rule, India was reunited for the first time since the days of Ashoka. The
invaders from the North led India into an age of splendor. And they brought a
new religion along that would from now on play a key role in Indian history:
Islam.
As a young prince, Shah Jahan – his name meaning “King of the World” – had
already been engaged to and later married Mumtaz Mahal, the “Chosen One of the
Palace.” Poets rhapsodized her grace and beauty that supposedly caused even the
moon to hide in shame. Their deep love for each other would last all through her
life. Mumtaz Mahal became Shah Jahan’s companion, confidante, and advisor. This
documentary tells the story of the Taj Mahal, as it reflects the dramatic
turning points in this famous love story.
In 1631, the “Chosen One of the Palace,” although far advanced in her pregnancy,
accompanied her husband on a military campaign against insurgents, but Mumtaz
Mahal would not survive the complications during the birth of her latest child.
On her deathbed, the mother of now fourteen expressed her final wish: to have a
mausoleum built for her, unlike any the world had ever seen. Soon after her
death, construction began on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra. It was an
undertaking of enormous proportions: 20,000 workers and 1,000 elephants labored
for eleven years.
In conversations with leading historians and architects, this documentary
analyzes the master plan and the esthetics of one of the world’s most
recognizable structures. A fascinating aspect are the optical illusions that
helped the builders bestow upon this massive edifice an aura of weightlessness.
Hadi Teherani, an architect from Hamburg with clients all over the world,
explains the secrets behind the construction of the foundations and the
self-supporting dome. Animated 3 D computer graphics and holograms illustrate
the development of this structure. Professor Ebba Koch, the only Western
scientist ever permitted to work and do research inside the Taj Mahal, will
explain the cosmopolitan and religious symbolism of the building and its gardens
in this documentary.
In the process, viewers will learn about an important result of the art
historians’ research: India’s Muslim rulers employed European experts and were
quite fond of an international taste. Theirs was an open-minded, liberal Islam.
The visual opulence of the documentary reveals the creative spirit of a “Golden
India” that was in love with the arts.