Aśoka (2001)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Memorable, crazy movie

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

As a Bolywood production and living in East Europe,this film was surprisingly easy to find (saw the name from a game and typed "Asoka" in the Internet)which meant it could be a good one.In fact it really was.In the genre bar is showed romance,drama,action,(even)musical but drama is most of the plot.Here is my review of "Asoka"(2001). The Plot-Be careful here!The movie is not for fragile hearts.It is directed good (by Saket Chaudhary and Santosh Sivan),it's like seeing all the important moments of a man,even for The Antiquity.The first love,the family,the friends and for the historical period-the war.Now now,I don't know much about Indian history but I have heard of emperor Asoka as a great ruler and the first Buddhist emperor who was good to his people and made trades with the Greeks,Egyptians and Romans.In the beginning of the film is said that there are some fictional moments but I think this is a good move.All the drama...just...you could feel it.With many ground-shaking and symbol moments from when Asoka cries in his-own hands full of ashes because of the idea his wife is dead or when his mother got killed by the Brahman or even the last scene-I will not reveal it because is the top point. The main role played by Shahrukh Han is represented excellent-all the emotions,eye-moving gestures are great.Kareena Kapoor playing as main female role is doing pretty well too.We could not say who is the real villain in the story,is it the greedy brother,Asoka's self destructing emotion of hopeless or Virat-the best friend,who is played by Danny Denzongpa and whose character develops from scoundrel bandit with freakish head noises to a good man.Not to forget Sooraj Balaji and his role like the young prince Arya.The other cast is also playing well.There are some 3 warriors-representing the society,Asoka's mother,the bodyguard of Arya and his sister-Bheem(a) - in Hindi the last "a" in male names doesn't spoken. The message of the film isn't just one.There are a few life lessons and wisdom you could learn.As Buddha says better to learn something before move on. My personal favorite characters are Asoka-himself and the bar girl which only sings a very catchy song-Aa Tayar Hoja-my favorite from all the 6 in the movie.Yes there are 6 songs long by 4 minutes but aren't boring.The atmosphere is good. The only 2 things i didn't like are the costumes-come on they could do better-like in the scene from the bar when the bar girl,somehow for 0,0001 seconds changed her dress from blue to orange-pink-and the connection with the title,especially "the great" part.We don't see when Asoka becomes a good emperor or maharajah but I think is about the historical sources.Anyway. The movie is great.You could learn a lot of things from Indian culture-like singing,a lot, to a life lesson.It is great for a rainy day or a long night.Don't be afraid of the merely 3 hours.It's worth it.

The people who like the plot, like it because King Ashoka's life and philosophy were great. The movie is stupid! Acting specially sucks. Ashoka's life deserves better than a stinking heap of irrelevant music sequences , bad actors and illogical dialogs. Bollywood has produced far better movies on history and this is nowhere near them. Ashoka's change of perception was supposed to be the awesomest and most inspiring part of the movie which they ruined with shallow approach. Neither the dialogs nor the visual aspects have been successful in that. As an actor SRK looks better because other actors are even worse than him. Few scenes like his mother's death, his wrath and violence and his post war visit of the battleground are OK but don't make the movie any better.A whole universe of Indian heroes and philosophers need to be revealed to the world, who till date are buried under darkness. I am expecting movies with more depth in future.

When the ace cinematographer holds the megaphone what would you expect? Nothing but ethereal beauty on the silver screen. SRK:: For once he should be appreciated to have backed the project as a producer. All things said and done, it cannot be denied that he has taken leap of faith number of times in his career resulting in phenomenal success in his graph. Yes, Asoka falls into the same category. He gives his best to breathe life into the character of Asoka. The character is shown to be torn between the love for his mother, Kaurwaki and motherland. Kareena Kapoor:: Certainly you would carry the image of Kaurwaki for a few decades to come. Last time it was Rekha in "Utsav" and maybe Vyjayanthimala in "Amrapali". The cinematographer has left no stone unturned to present her in the best light possible. Her character is fleshed out strongly and therefore Kareena gets lots of scope to showcase her talent. Danny:: Reliable.Rahul Dev:: Good writing was warranted to make the character leave an lasting impression. Otherwise he demonstrated a well-chiselled frame.Hrishita Bhatt: Decent performance considering the scope of her character. Sadly Asoka could not do much value-addition to her standing in Bollywood.Ajith:: Down-south I am sure he was a huge heart-throb. Sadly went un- noticed in Bollywood. Additionally there was no meat in the character. Enigmatic lyrics were translated into melodious numbers by Anu Mallik, they were in top-form indeed,. Chroreography was top-notch. Special mention to Gayatri Jayaraman and Rajlaxmi R. Roy who featured in the "Raat Ka Nasha" & "Aa Tayar Ho Ja" songs. Sadly 'Asoka' ended up being compared to 'Lagaan' which released around the same time and therefore did not garner the due patrons.

I've finally got down to viewing Asoka in its entirety, given that my closest shave was when it screened on television some years back, but I got interrupted with an extremely long phone call, which left me with only 10 minutes into the start, and the last 10. Yes, I knew how it ended, but who's satisfied without getting at the meat? Moreover, the complaints that surrounded the film also intrigued me, as it really seemed that the dramatic license taken to interpret a BC-era story had met with plenty of objections for not being historically accurate.Given India's rich history, there isn't a lack of stories involving kings of the past, such as that portrayed in Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar. Asoka took on similar romantic proportions, in that at its core it has a love story to tell, rather than one focused on waging war throughout the lands, although this was touched upon in the latter half of the film, stemming from a death of his heart, and the embracing of a rage against the known world.The first half introduces us to the star-crossed lovers, and the usual boy-meets-and-woos formula. Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan), being the favourite son of the Magahda empire, is in line for the throne, to the detest of his brothers. Rather than allow the family to disintegrate into chaos, his mum sends him away in exile to his objection, but his love for his mom meant obedience, and he journeys into rival kingdom of Kalinga incognito as a commoner. That of course still doesn't stop his brothers, especially the next in line Susima (Ajit Kumar) from continuous plotting his eradication.Then there's Kareena Kapoor (credited as Karriena Kapoor, in her first pair up with SRK and looking more voluptuous than her skinnier self now) as Kaurwaki, the princess who together with the king-in-waiting Prince Aryan (Sooraj Balaji) and their trusted general Bheema (Rahul Dev) are in hiding because of a plot from someone in the democratic senate out to murder them to take over the throne. So you have set up a Romeo & Juliet circumstance, where descendants of the royal households fall in love, and also have to deal with the rubbish politics back home which bays for their blood.The film paints a very emotional Asoka that Shah Rukh Khan excelled in bringing out, especially when three women in his life played an important part in his life-changing decisions, such as his mom's involvement for him to see the outside world, Kaurwaki in being his first true, and unattainable love that he yearns and pines for, and his eventual wife Devi (Hrishitaa Bhatt), a Buddhist who would be instrumental in his embracing of the religion after coming to his senses in the aftermath of his most brutal war waged just because of his insatiable appetite for more territory, though of course done in the name of uniting India.But with romance out of the way, SRK also showed off the result of his training in the numerous swordfights he gets put into. The designers here had made his calling card, a "demonic" sword that has a bloodlust, resemble a little like He-Man's power sword, but without mythical influences of course. The other weapon that he wields, which is the more impressive of the two, is a double-bladed bendy-sword, which functions more closely as a whip. Nasty piece of equipment that, though Kareena herself do have set action sequences dedicated to her and showed she's no pushover too.While the story shows how Asoka transforms through the stages, the middle section surprisingly was the best part, as it was the bridge between the two distinct halves which straddles the romance and the warrior aspects. Here Santosh Sivan and Saket Chaudhary's screenplay takes on liberties into bridging the two together, and it's quite engaging, with that sense of dramatic irony always omnipresent, and Fate having a field day with the characters involved, providing a catalyst for that inevitable charge toward change. It's somewhat predictable of course, but presents that sense of impending doom and gloom that the narrative turns towards.For a film made in 2001, the editing here did seem a little jarring, but further research explained that this was inherent to the version of the DVD viewed, which included a very obvious missing Interval title-card, which splits the film into two given the industry's run time for films. The song sequences of the movies now try not to have spatial and time warps and transportations, and for a film back then, it's still a technique (if you will) used to put the romancing characters in far out locales and situations. I'm not complaining, since my favourite song of the film has this incredible dance sequence between King Khan and Kareena (choreographed by Farah Khan) beautifully filmed against some surreal, haunting backdrops.I feel that this interpretation for the screen would also suffice, though stopping short at what Asoka is more renowned for, the propagation of Buddhist teachings across asia, and his emblem, the Chakra, emblazoned on the Indian flag of today.