Asoka

There's a disclaimer at the beginning of "Asoka" that says that the film is not meant to be a fact-based historical retelling of the life of the great ancient Indian emperor Ashok but rather "an attempt to follow his journey." From that, we're supposed to get the impression that the filmmakers probably took a few liberties with the facts while making this film. Okay, that's fine. But, as it turns out that "attempt to follow his journey" is a pathetic attempt at best. From a historical standpoint, the film is hopelessly flawed. I would have thought that if they were going to spend so much time and money on historically accurate sets and historically accurate props and even historically-accurate-sounding dialogue that they would at least *try* to be historically accurate in telling the story. But, as it turns out "taking a few liberties" with historical facts means simply scrapping them, writing a cheap story to replace them, and then using the historical context to sell the story. But, to be fair to the film, I'll try to judge it as a film and not as a dramatization of history. Even if we ignore the fact that this film ignores historical facts completely and even if we ignore the fact that women in ancient India most definitely did not wear tube-tops and mini-skirts (as almost all the women in this film do) and even if we ignore the fact that ancient India did not have nightclubs or, for that matter, techno music (whereas this film features a nice little scene in a nightclub with a *-like dancer on stage singing a techno song), EVEN THEN this film offers little. The plot is convoluted and slapped together in an attempt to create a story. The songs are out-of-place, annoying, and laughably ridiculous. The talents of the actors are wasted. The characters do not fit their roles or the storyline. This is not Ashok we see on screen; this is Shah Rukh Khan, switching back and forth like a tennis ball, from a ruthless commander-in-chief to a clown to a Devdas-like melodramatic bum back to a ruthless commander-in-chief to a man at peace with himself and the world. For someone who might say that Shah Rukh Khan gives "a performance of a lifetime" in this film, I must say I agree. The character of Ashok is a horrendous mixture of almost every character Shah Rukh Khan has portrayed in his lifetime. It's like filmmakers took all of his characters, stuffed them in the blender and pressed "liquefy." The result is a pathetic excuse for a character. "Ramayan" is an epic. "Mahabharat" is an epic. "Star Wars" is an epic. "The Lord of the Rings" is an epic. "Asoka" is an epic disaster.

I think some of the commenters misunderstand a few points 1) It's not only about love and war, but rivals within the family. He didn't kill his brother because he was so vicious but because of how he was treated. No one even talks about the pain that Asoka had to go through. And I haven't seen Braveheart or Gladiator but American films don't often show that. 2) As it coping it's ideas, what bullshit. Americans copied from Japanese ideas and they copied from us. And I think that they're on the verge of making it bigger here, just like Japanese movies and that they will eventually have their own way of directing. You give too little credit when you have no right to judge so hard. 3) In the beginning of the movie they tell you that there is fiction in it so your expected that it's not exactly how it went but made to be more interesting for the viewers. Now how often does that happen? (Rhetorical) unless in the version you watched they didn't say that. But if they did you should have acknowledged that it wasn't all about the truth but about the movie.

Asoka is one of the greatest figures in world history. Santosh Sivan is the brilliant director/writer of the deeply moving film "The Terrorist." How then can this shallow excuse for battle scenes and carnage see the light of day? What is Asoka's Motivation? Romantic love, that's all. Why do people kill? To ascend the various thrones, that's all. What is the role of Buddhism here? Buddhists tended to Asoka's wounds, that's all. Why does Asoka kill so cruelly? Because he grieves for his sweetheart, of course. I gave it 3/10, and that's only because there was beautiful photography. The rest of it is too stupid to bother with. How long will it be before someone does the subject justice? We may wait an awfully long time. But I would say the real tale of Asoka will be told by a Thai filmmaker, not an Indian.

In the world of formulaic Indian cinema, I suppose this might be a standout production; but to my American eyes, the fine cinematography and high production values weren't enough to counter the bizarre cartoonish sense of this film. It was like a really really long comic book with simplistic dialog punctuated by: 1) Paula Abdul-syle song and dance numbers right out of 1980s MTV except sometimes with swords and stuff; and, 2) lame joke wisecracking by three comic relief guys with nothing to do with the story. When we do return to the plot, it is as predictable as a 1940s black & white Hollywood Western. You can fast forward the way you can skip pages in any boring story and lose nothing in your understanding of the plot. The violence is truly make-believe, perhaps because of Indian censorship restrictions. The battle scenes will look awfully tame to Americans. Those censorship restrictions probably account for the complete absence of nudity as well, except for some really cool tatoos and piercings on beautiful Indian models... which kind of sums it up: There's plenty of visual beauty, but not enough to make up for deficiencies in the other elements that make a video worth the $3 rental fee.

Likeable, but long, quasi drama, quasi musical with a little comedy thrown in about intrigues of a family of an Indian Raj. This won't be everybody's cup, but if you stay with it, the story delivers a satisfying conclusion. The actors are attractive and enjoyable, the battle scenes were enhanced by NOT using CGG. By keeping shots local, on real actors, as opposed to long distance pans of computer generated people, it simply looked better. CGG, as shown in the movie THE PATRIOT; looked phony and to a viewers intuition, felt phony. Kudos to the producers for keeping it real. My only beef was the time length of the film, and just a few too many melodramatic moments of pathos. This kind of going for the heart-strings style of screenwriting can backfire, if one goes to the well too often. The music and dance numbers were pretty terrific, albeit through my western eyes. Their tempos were sweetly romantic, or heartfelt in their display of sadness, depending on the case. All were artistic, interesting and entertaining. ASOKA, the biography of an Indian Prince, is recommended.

This movie is underrated and deserves more then the 6.8 from the users' rating here in IMDb. Shahrukh Khan is totally hot and perfect as Asoka, but I don't understand why so many people are saying bad things about the actress Kareena Kapoor, that in my opinion, was also nice in the role of Kaurwaki. Well, Whatever: ''Asoka'' is a very beautiful film, with a great cinematography, scenarios and clothes. It is also a great epic from the Indian movies that deserves to be watched by people of all ages, and even not being 100% faithful about the real Asoka's life, it is a great adaptation of it. The only two things I need to complain are : + The songs, that are not a masterpiece like in ''Lagaan'' and also doesn't have anything to do with the story of the movie. In most of the Indian movies , the songs always have lyrics about what is happening to the characters. In ''Asoka'' they don't. + The end of the film. After the tension if Kaurwaki and Asoka are going to be together or not, the end should show at least a little bit about their lives as a noble couple. Another thing I missed, was to see the good things Asoka did for his people, like spreading the Buddhism and doing great constructions and monuments. It would help the end to be better, specially after seeing such a massive destruction and annihilation. Finally, many things of ''Asoka'' remembers me another great epic movie called ''Atilla'', that is directed by Dick Lowry: the way Asoka stays angry and starts to be a monster ,killing everybody after the supposed death of Kaurwaki, is very similar of Atilla 's behavior when his wife N'Kara dies. And Kauwarki being undercover and protected by General Bheema, remembers me a classic from Akira Kurosawa,''Kakushi-toride no san-akunin''', more well known as ''The Hidden fortress'', where the general Rokurota Makabe takes care of princess yuki in an identical situation of Kauwarki. Prince Asoka,after leaving his kingdom by his mother's wishes (since he is being hunted by his own brothers), falls in love with the beautiful princess Kaurwaki. Kaurwaki doesn't know he is a prince, but eventually falls in love with him too, spite of the efforts of the general to let her safe from everybody, since she and her brother are being hunted by the Kallinga traitors. But when Asoka returns his kingdom to talk with his mother, he doesn't find Kaurwaki , thinking that she was killed by the Kallinga traitors, he falls into despair and becomes a brutal emperor.

original and inventive direction and cinematography? didnt anyone else get the feeling that this was crouching tiger, hidden dragon with an indian story bolted onto it (and that too badly done!)? where was the history? why dumb-ass and completely extraneous and unimaginative (except by indian standards) song and dance numbers, while a little bit about buddhist philosophy and not just a couple of orange filtered shots of a buddhist monk walking past the sunset? right, plot...what plot? one scene develops to the next in such a contrived manner, one never knows why the war is being raged or any of the rest of it (eg. arya dying at the end...clearly the filmmakers intended, as is de rigeur in hindi films) that the audience must leave crying. but where is the dramatic role for arya's death? there isnt one...just the same as there is no dramatic kudos to any of the developments in the film, except perhaps to satisfy producers/distributors whims and demands. direction...santosh sivan has clearly been watching and learning from ang lee and ridley scott amongst others and still manages to direct some of the most cack-handed action ever...could martial arts fight scenes be any more pedestrian? i wont go on...but suffice it to say, i sat thru this more easily than the typical poor boy meets rich girl, whose father is a corrupt business type...his best friend dies at the end and he gets the girl type hindi film, but pls, dont think of this as original and ground breaking!