Based on real people (ca. 1620) - THE MOGHUL begins in a rip-roaring
sea battle north of Bombay in which the vastly out-gunned adventurer,
Brian Hawksworth, ship's captain and emissary of King James, blows
away a flotilla of Portuguese galleons to gain access to an Indian
port. He's come to open trade for "barbaric" England and squeeze out
the Portuguese, who try to kill him at every turn. But once on land,
he's captive: the beauty and romance of the exquisite Moghul Empire
seduce him from his material goals to a new quest - of supreme
sensuality in music, visions, and sacred lovemaking.
India, ruled by the son of great Akbar, is about to pass to one of his
sons. Hawksworth must choose sides, but will he choose right? The
future of England, and of India, depend on it. Assailed by intrigue
and assassination, tormented by a forbidden love, enthralled by a
mystic poet, Hawksworth engages war elephants, tiger hunts, the harem
of the Red Fort of Agra, the Rajput warriors at Udaipur, becomes
intimate champion to Shah Jahan, (builder of the Taj Mahal), and, in
his supreme test, plays the sitar with a touch that elicits from the
great Shah - "Finally, my English friend - you understand."
THE MOGHUL was immediately a European bestseller, optioned by Indian
producers who commissioned a six-hour mini-series, then Canadian
producers with the BBC.