When I was in school, I was fascinated by that chapter in history that dealt with the Mughals. The History classes where we were taught about the Mughal Sultanate saw a lot of students in my class dozing off, except for a handful of people including me. I was amazed by what they did, what they built, and how they continued to rule for years. When I found out about ‘Just Mughal Things’ naturally I was excited. While watching the episodes, I was hooked. Here’s all that you need to know about ‘Just Mughal Things’ – an animated series created by Applause Entertainment.
'Just Mughal Things': Story
The episodes revolve around three characters - Badshah-Bin-Taj, Mallika Mallika, and Mirza Bakr Bakr. These characters have been cleverly named. The episodes centre around the adventures of these Mughal characters in the modern world. They navigate through modern-day problems such as hashtags, pop-up ads, Instagram filters, finding love on dating apps, 5G, and even shitposting. In the 10 episodes, modern issues are taken up and it shows how these characters navigate them. Most of the time, they fail.
'Just Mughal Things': Performances
Being an animated series, there isn’t much to talk about the performance of the actors. However, what needs to be noted is the people behind the voices of these characters. The voice actors are absolutely natural in what they are speaking and at no time does their comedy feel forced. When you are voicing animated characters, there is always a risk of the jokes falling flat. But that doesn’t happen here. The jokes slide in carefully and land at the right time. They make you smile and also laugh.
'Just Mughal Things': Script, Direction & Technical Aspects
When I started watching ‘Just Mughal Things,’ I thought that I needed to watch the episodes in sequential order for them to make sense. But as the series progressed, I found out that the episodes were not linked to each other. This works well because the audience will not have to watch the older episodes to understand the reference and the joke. Let’s face it, there are tons of shows that we consume every hour. It’s not possible to catch all of them from the beginning. With these non-interlinked episodes, it is easier for the viewer to pick just any episode and watch the entire series in an order that they like.
When we talk about the show, we need to talk about how funny and at the same time relatable the jokes feel. There is always a risk of creating unfunny moments when you take inane things from everyday life to tickle the ribs. But this has worked in favour of ‘Just Mughal Things’. On one hand, you have these Mughal characters and on the other, there are modern-day problems. The jokes hit the mark and it is clean comedy. I mean, what’s not to like? Nowhere does the comedy feel preachy or fake. Some jokes from the show might sound unfunny on paper, but it fits perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle.
Despite being a show about the Mughals, the show has a very modern and fresh vibe. What helps establish this is the clean animation which is spectacular. The animation is perfect, and it is not jarring. It is smooth and the cinematography helps keep it in place. All the characters are well fleshed out and even their nuances are beautifully captured in the animation.
'Just Mughal Things': Cast & Crew
Conceptualized, Written, and Directed By: Rudu Studio
Animated By: Rudu Studio, Gina James, Sunakshi Puri
Voiced By: Arjun Mogre, Aadya Raj, Sajjad Rezwan, Sameer Nair, Deepak Segal, Prasoon Garg, Devnidhi B, Brijesh Muliya, Vighnesh Menon, Anindo Chatterjee
Produced By: Applause Entertainment
Available On: YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Josh
Episodes: 10
Genre: Comedy
Language: Hindi
Duration: 20-30 seconds
'Just Mughal Things': Can Kids Watch It?
Yes.
Outlook's Verdict
After watching 10 episodes if I have to pick a favourite, it would be the episode where the King learns about Teetar (aka Twitter) and sends a message to his populace. Except his message isn’t delivered completely because his minister forgot to tell him about the word count. ‘Just Mughal Things’ is a nice and breezy watch for those times when you want a break from the constant doomscrolling on Instagram. The short duration doesn’t help in making you think about the series again. I only wish that the series was longer because it has all the elements that can make it work. I would go with 3 out of 5 stars.
