Aśoka
Aśoka
R | 13 September 2001 (USA)
Aśoka Trailers

A young Prince Asoka works to perfect his skills in battle and also deals with family conflict. During a struggle with one of his step-brothers, his mother urges Asoka to escape to stay alive. While away, Asoka meets Kaurwaki and falls in love, but must use his skills as a warrior to protect her. A dangerous and heartbreaking web of conspiracy follows, which leads Asoka to embrace a Buddhist path.

Reviews
LastingAware The greatest movie ever!
Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
Majorthebys Charming and brutal
HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
lynnjwalker Bollywood corruption exposed. Casting a dwarf as an action hero? How much did SHK pay to play this role? I can't even call it a role, he doesn't bother acting, it's all "the charming SHK show" and that's supposed to carry the plot along with no storyline other than romantic nonsense.Worst film ever released from India. Pathetic. Shameful. May all misfortune fall upon the greedy souls involved with the sham of an entertainment vehicle.
superherosaves I watched the whole thing, and this is how it looks to me: The first 2 hours are for WOMEN(Songs, Love, Hitchhiking, etc). The last 40 minutes are where the REAL action comes in. It also includes the Historical aspect of the film, whereas the first part is a love story. Trust me,you won't miss anything important in there. I appreciate how the directors emphasized Ashoka's personal attachment to Kaurwaki(as opposed to the other wives), but all the lines are made up. Buddhism did not play a huge part, but it was there in the film, so Credits for that as well. Interestingly, many Edicts of Asoka make reference to the Greek kings, but they are not mentioned at all in the movie. In my opinion, much time is wasted on the romantic scenes.
Avinash Patalay 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.
winner55 One experience every movie fan hopes for is expecting an okay film going into the viewing and coming out with socks knocked off and feet covered with sweat, having just witnessed a miracle. This happened to me only about four times, with The Seven Samurai, the Wild Bunch, Once Upon a Time in the West and Carnival of Souls; A Clockwork Orange, One-Armed Swordsman, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Seventh Seal came pretty close. It is notable that nothing known of these films, their genres, they're filmmakers adequately prepare one for seeing these films. I saw the whole Eastwood trilogy by Sergio Leone, and Once Upon a Time in the West still seemed to loop out of heaven unannounced.I haven't yet decided whether Asoka will join the films that knocked my socks off or those that came pretty close. But there's no doubt this is a film for which considerable preparation will still leave the viewer unprepared.As a recent Indian film, I feared this would be a Hollywoodized Bollywood film; instead it is both pure Bollywood and yet attains a coherence, a vision, a majesty and a purity never before seen in a Bollywood film. director and co-writer Sivan has designed a film absolutely true to the cinematic tradition of its country of origin and yet is composed of only the best of that tradition, emphasized and glorified with cinematography indescribably gorgeous, and given flesh, bone and marrow of substance by performances from young actors easily ranking among the best in world cinema, performances leaving the better performances from Hollywood actors of similar age of the same era buried in the dust of missed opportunities. Because the actors here know exactly what Sivan is doing and know what he expects of them and make every effort to deliver to his expectations.I can only guess that the ridiculously low rating of this film at IMDb is due to the number of those who view this film without previous experience of Bollywood tradition, and who might want the Hollywoodized epic I feared. I hope that continued screenings of this film will prove to all that we have a real miracle at hand here, easily ranking with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as one of the great tragic romances buried in an epic as yet ever made.The almost hallucinogenic visionary quality of the visuals, the remarkable and forceful savvy of the actors, the profound and unsounded depths of the script, the world importance of the subject matter, and the audaciously complex interweaving of all these elements - if this is not the film you were looking for, this is still the film you need to see.When we have time again to choose the classics, this will be high on the list.
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