Believe It Or Not, The Empire Can¡¯t Seem To Hide Some Striking Resemblance To Game Of Thrones

With a similar plotline that depicts historical accounts of dynastic battles and reigns, The Empire is falling under immense scrutiny due to some serious similarities it shares with fan-favorite series Game Of Thrones.

Multi-starrer period drama The Empire debuted this week on Disney+ Hotstar to more of a lukewarm reception. Despite an ensemble led by Shabana Azmi and Kunaal Kapoor, the show wasn¡¯t able to turn tides on the previously failed representations of historical events on Indian television or the cinematic front.

A significant aspect that led to such reception from the audience is due to the show¡¯s striking resemblance to the period dramas from the West, especially, the highly-acclaimed and Emmy-winning HBO series, Game of Thrones.

The Empire | Hotstar

Ever since the series came under the spotlight, people on the internet have been pointing out some striking resemblances between the two shows. Though The Empire, which is based on the first volume of Alex Rutherford¡¯s Empire of Moghul - Raiders from the North; and George R.R. Martin¡¯s A Song of Ice and Fire are primarily a work of fiction, there are several instances where The Empire calls out to the hit adaptation of Martin¡¯s novels.

The show¡¯s cast and creators have publicly chastised such comparisons; however, right from the dark color grading, the sets, visual effects, and costumes to the gory make-up, styling, and character representation, there are several callbacks to GoT right from the moment the series begins.

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Progressing in flashbacks against the backdrop of Babur¡¯s conflict with Delhi Sultanate¡¯s last ruler Ibrahim Lodhi, the show takes back to Babur¡¯s days in Ferghana (Uzbekistan), trying to dig deep into his past life and history. But from the very introduction of the character, one can¡¯t just snap out of this geeky thesis of comparisons between the show and Game of Thrones.

Starting of With a Beric Dondarian Quote- Quiet Easy to Capture

Beric Dondarian gave some really fascinating preachings in his six, wait, seven lifetimes. Those thoughts and dialogues came to light when he showed up on front with Jon Snow in the final seasons of the show. Being killed and revived six times, Beric had a distinct and scary outlook towards death, something, which a young Babur (Kunaal Kapoor) from The Empire somehow mirrors.

The Empire | Hotstar

The show starts with Babur battling in the grounds of Panipat against large Lodhi forces while delivering a small monologue which starts with a really familiar phrase - ¡°Zindagi maut se kitna hi ladle, jeet aakhir maut ki hi hoti hai¡±, and you¡¯d instantly have Richard Dormer¡¯s Beric Dondarion reciting his ¡°Death is the enemy, the first and the last; and the enemy always wins¡± speech from Game of Thrones in your head.

Game of Thrones

As Kunaal Kapoor stands like a war-weary Jon Snow in a battleground set like that of the Battle of Bastards (except here, it¡¯s sand instead of ice), the monologue further rings Syrio Furel¡¯s What do we say to death? Not today! And this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Dino VS. Drogo: A Good Character Lost in Vain

Then comes on-screen Dino Morea, playing Shaibani Khan. Shaibani Khan was one of the most clever and intelligent war strategists as the history recounts, and had a lot of potential to grow and stand out in this series. However, there¡¯s no gravitas to him than his looks, appearance, and build.

Dino VS. Drogo: A Good Character Lost in Vain

That scar on Morea¡¯s face created in an unsuccessful make-up attempt can hardly be ignored. The hair and beard are all too similar. There are also comments on how Dino Morea¡¯s look has been inspired by that of Ranveer Singh in Padmavat wherein he essayed the role of Alauddin Khilji. Given the fact that The Empire¡¯s director-writer Mitakarsha Kumar worked closely with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and has publicly addressed him as her trainer, this particular resemblance in two-character portrayals and appearances seems more logical.

Morea¡¯s Shaibani Khan further seems like an amalgamation of Drogo and GoT¡¯s psychopathic villain Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon). Though Morea certainly doesn¡¯t look relatable to Ramsay, the writing of the show explicitly tries to portray him as an intelligent, clever, and self-obsessed ruler, just like that of Ramsay, who saw no limits to achieve his ambitions.

The Similarities in Narrative and Progression

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There are several sequences that are directly borrowed from HBO¡¯s all-time hit. We see Shaibani Khan slicing up a hunted boar just like Tywin Lannister sliced a stag in the first season of the show and it¡¯s just not the acting and aesthetics of the show that resembles Game of Thrones, but the directorial style and the construction of screenplay, as well as the progression of the story significantly alike. You know how Game of Thrones played on surprising deaths and murders, unexpected plot twists, the character turns (as in Baelish turning on Ned Stark), and events spawning through the years. Well, The Empire, despite being a historical account, is written in a manner to portray anti-climactic events in a surprising manner, though it fails to justify the build-up of the story.

On top of this, the show¡¯s sets and production design often seem similar to the domes of King¡¯s Landing¡¯s Red Keep, while the dark themes and colors give an icy feel like that of Winterfell. The gates, the architectural designs, the colors, almost everything about The Empire are similar.

Period Dramas¡¯ Inspirations from Historical Facts

The Empire has its own intelligible plot to explore but the lack of effort into creating Rutherford¡¯s novels into a fresh and original live-action franchise may be plunging the show among audiences. It could also be the lack of research outside of the source novels which led to such stereotypical depiction of Mongols and Turks and other Middle-Eastern or Gulf kingdoms, something which Bollywood and Indian television has failed at a lot of times (remember ¡°Panipat¡±, the movie?).

Kunaal Kapoor 'The Empire' | Hotstar

However, to say that the show is a brazen copy of Game of Thrones like many are calling it would also be an injustice. Even Game of Thrones was an inspiration from a large set of literature Martin studied before creating his universe of Westeros, especially that of J.R.R. Tolkein¡¯s Lord of The Rings.

As Morea resembles Drogo, Drogo himself had character similarities with Conan, The Barbarian - a character which was portrayed in live-action by Momoa himself, as well as by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The show further made use of freshly created languages and dialects, just like Tolkein did with Elvish in LOTR. So, there could have been better live-action representation to this story in The Empire, only if the inspirations were re-modelled to fit the setting instead of being directly brought into the screenplay.

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Empire of Moghuls is a novel series that dives into the historical and factual background of the rise and fall of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent and the first season of The Empire follows the struggle of that dynasty¡¯s establishment from the early days of King Babur. The show has a very promising plot and has a chance to depict a significant aspect of history that we have all studied. The overly dramatic sequences, injustice to the acting prowess of the show¡¯s cast, and the lack of additional research into the factual history outside Rutherford¡¯s novels are all being a barrier to its acclaim. These similarities with the show aren¡¯t its problems as they may not be a result of over analysis, the show itself is trying to be a thing of its own.

It¡¯s tough to say whether it will make it to the next season with other books in the series adapted into screenplays.