Greatest joy for an actor to portray person from history: Dia

Actress Dia Mirza, who will play a pivotal role in Nikkhil Advani's "Moghuls" -- a historical show adapted from a novel -- says it's a great joy to essay a character from history.

"It is one of the greatest joys for an actor to portray a person from history. The Mughal empire has been a subject that I have always had a keen interest in and it is truly exciting to work with Nikkhil Advani and my most favorite Shabana Azmi and Ronit Roy," Dia said in a statement.

According to reports, "Moghuls" is going to be a lavishly-mounted show, a screen adaptation of Alex Rutherford's six-volume historical fiction novel "Empire of the Moghul", which starts with Babur and ends with the reign of Aurangzeb.

Ronit will play Babur in the show, while Shabana will essay the role of his grandmother Esan Daulat and Dia will feature as his sister Khanzada. The team started shooting for it in Jaipur last week.

Without divulging much, Dia said: "It's much too early to say more, other than the fact that this is going to be a lot of hard work and I am truly looking forward to it."