Tag : Pithoragarh

New Delhi: The education ministry needs to take cognizance of the contribution of Hindu kings and "balance" out their stories with those of Mughal emperors who enjoy more space in school texts, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar said on Wednesday. Ahead of the release of his film "Samrat Prithviraj", a historical action drama based on the warrior Rajput king, Kumar said, "it's sad we don't know about our kings". ''There were only three-four lines about Samrat Prithviraj in the history books that I read. Thanks to this film, I got to know so much about him. I don't think anyone else also knew about him," Kumar told PTI in an interview. ''When I was talking to my son about him (Prithviraj), he said 'I know about the British empire, Mughal empire, but who's the?' So it's a sad thing that we don't know about our kings. There were only a few lines about Rana Pratap, Rani of Jhansi. But there are a lot of chapters on Mughals,'' he added. Kumar described his film, which was earlier titled ''Prithviraj'' and was rechristened last week following protests by the Shree Rajput Karni Sena, as an ''educational film set commercially''. ''I would appeal to the education ministry to try and (bring about) balance and bring our culture, Hindu kings also in our textbooks,'' Kumar said. Kumar was in Delhi to promote his film and paid floral tributes at Qila Rai Pithoragarh, a south Delhi complex housing a statue of Prithviraj Chauhan. ''Samrat Prithviraj'', produced by Yash Raj Films that put out a statement about the name change, is directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi. Kumar said he was surprised when Dwivedi, known for directing the 1991 TV show ''Chanakya'' and the 2003 Partition film ''Pinjar'', approached him for the project. ''I was not sure whether I'll b ...