Author Amish Tripathi, best known for his mythological fiction, launched his latest book, The Chola Tigers: Avengers of Somnath, in Mumbai, the second installment in his Indic Chronicles series.
The event saw the presence of actor Jimmy Shergill, filmmaker Om Prakash Mehra, and actor-producer duo Ravi Dubey and Sargun Mehta.
While unveiling the book, Amish made a strong statement on how history has been misrepresented not just in school textbooks but also on the big screen.
Calling Bollywood partly responsible for adding to the confusion, he said, "We think Alauddin Khilji looks like Ranveer Singh, Akbar looks like Hrithik Roshan, or Aurangzeb looks like Akshaye Khanna, which is not true. They were all from the steppes of Central Asia. If we actually travelled back in time and saw them, to us they would look Chinese. They weren't Chinese, They are the same people who conquered and devastated China as well."
Amish pointed out that historical figures like Khilji and Akbar didn't speak Urdu, which is an Indian language. Instead, they spoke Turkish or Persian. "When we see a British ruler in films, it's clear he is foreign. He looks foreign, but he speaks English. But Khilji is shown as Ranveer Singh speaking Urdu, which makes him seem relatable and homegrown. That's not accurate," he explained.
The author argued that these portrayals blur the understanding of invasions and that invasions are wrongly associated with Indian Muslims rather than foreign rulers. "They were foreigners, just like the British. Our history books and popular culture often fail to clarify that," he said.
The author argued that such portrayals blur the reality of invasions, wrongly associating them with Indian Muslims rather than foreign rulers. He also questioned why the way history is taught seems deliberately divisive.
"The Indic Chronicles is my interpretation of the story of the last 1300 years. Our history, as we study it today, was largely written by the British Raj. They had their own agenda-and sadly, that agenda continued post-1947. For example, British colonial rule is never called a Christian invasion. But the Turkish colonial rule is mischievously called the Islamic invasion. Why? It almost feels like an attempt to divide us," Amish said.
With The Indic Chronicles, starting with Legend of Suheldev and now The Chola Tigers, Amish aims to retell stories of courage and resistance-what he calls "the greatest resistance in human history."
"If there's one thing we should learn, it's unity. Our ancestors never surrendered. They fought for 1300 years to keep our culture alive. We owe them pride, not ignorance," he concluded.
