If you want to become a well-known historian, I suggest you drop the idea of getting a PhD, spending long hours in the library or archaeological ruins, and wrangling with professors at some university.
Instead, go and make a movie about a historical figure or event. No, not the Oppenheimer variety. I know the Hollywood biopic on the celebrated nuclear scientist has swept the Oscar awards this year, but you know, these Americans must learn from the new Bollywood, where historical movies are of increasingly hysterical importance.
Chris Nolan may have spent hours and millions on getting a lot right about Oppenheimer, such as the details of the hearings after which his security status was stripped off, or his days as a young scientist making it to Europe, grappling with Sanskrit, etc.
Why waste such effort? In Bollywood, we make'em quick, easy to digest, and designed to pull the emotive strings of patriotic audiences, that too right before the general elections.