Ben Kingsley Wishes to Play Shah Jahan

Having won an Oscar for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi and in the 1982 classic Gandhi, Ben Kingsley now wants to play the role of Shah Jahan. The 71-year-old actor wants to tell the story of the Mughal Emperor and the Taj Mahal. He was last seen as a Sikh cab driver in New York named Darwan Singh Tur.

Ben said, “It is one of my hopes, to play him (Shah Jahan), an incredible man, engineer, philosopher, poet, architect, warrior. It is amazing. I'd love to (play him on screen). I am fascinated by him”. He added that he wanted to tell the “extraordinary” history of Shah Jahan through a movie or a mini-series.

His last film was titled Learning to Drive where he shared screen space with Patricia Clarkson and Sarita Choudhury. The movie showed the racial persecution that the Sikh community faced in India, because of which he moved to New York after being imprisoned for his religious beliefs. Sarita Choudhury played the role of his wife in the film and won the First Runner-up People's Choice Award at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.