[1] The series is an adaptation of the popular 2002 award-winning fictional novel The Twentieth Wife by author Indu Sundaresan.
The show focuses on the battle between the princes to become the heir to the throne and also on Salim - Mehrunissa's love story.
The other prominent aspects of the show are the politics in the harem between Jagat Gosaini, Ruqaiya Sultan Begum and other women, the rivals of Akbar like Malik Amber, Chand Bibi and Rana Pratap and the political turmoil in Akbar's court between Abul Fazl, Mirza Ghias Beg and Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana The series was shot over a period of six months in Bikaner, Rajasthan,[4] with the Laxmi Niwas Palace acting as a substitute for Emperor Akbar's palace in Lahore.
I happened to be doing an art history course at the National Museum at that time and I spent it at the gallery studying Mughal miniatures and trying to imagine the world that Mehrunissa lived in.
[citation needed] Siyaasat brings alive the decadent lifestyle, architecture, art, and stories of the Mughal royalty.