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90 comments in total

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20 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Indian cinema's finest offerings, 30 October 2001

Author: fuaad45 from London, UK

Asoka is a movie by acclaimed cinematographer and director Santosh Sivan, and it is clearly evident from his latest venture that he is about to change the celluloid world forever. The movie is an epic and the first example of International Indian cinema on a wide scale, bigger canvas and projected through the eye of a master filmmaker.

The film begins with the young Prince Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan) as a boy who watches his father accept Jainism, a peaceful religion that encourages him to toss aside his sword, which has caused much bloodshed. The young boy is intrigued by the weapon and picks up the new toy, masters it and soon learns that with the power of yielding this sword comes a great price. A warrior is born who fights many battles yet it is quickly established that this young man is very much fighting human wars, quenching a thirst for power and balancing this with his love for his family, particularly his mother. His mother renounces her son's violent ways and requests him to undergo the greatest education any person can: a journey.

On his journey as an ordinary traveller, the prince encounters friends and learns to eat peasant food with his trusty horse Pawan, who mirroring an opposite reflection to Asoka's seemingly black heart, is pure white with eyes that steal the heart of anyone who gazes into them. While exploring through a forest he meets the Princess Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor), whose eyes mesmerise one moment and warn off invaders in a blink. She is the embodiment of beauty and the prince introduces himself as Pawan to her, only to find there is a price on her head and she, accompanied by General Bheema (Rahul Dev) and young Prince Arya (Suraj Balaji), are on their own journey to make it alive to Kalinga where their destiny awaits them.

The journey of Asoka continues with trials and love, jealousy and betrayal, all making up cornerstones of what Prince Asoka experiences along the way. He falls flawlessly in love with Kaurwaki, and she becomes his soul and purpose of living, but destiny strikes a blow only to begin a mission born in rage and spread by blood. To reveal the rest of the movie would be taking too much from the audiences' viewing pleasure but the journey for Asoka is far from over.

A story of a traveller's travels, his education that is the journey, the loves and losses and wars and redemption all encompass this 173 minute epic that grips the viewer from the moment the camera pans down onto Asoka, as if indicating it is descending onto a mountain full of riches within, up until the deeply disturbing ending, which leaves the viewer with a ray of hope before the credits flash to announce not the end of the story but the beginning.

Santosh Sivan's camerawork and direction are par excellence, as his unique flash-technique and use of many shots to accentuate a minor detail in a scene all add together to create a cleverly woven story immortalised on film. In some sequences the camera cuts like a sword with flashes of residue left lingering both on screen and in the viewer's mind, yet in others following, he uses less shots and still manages to maintain rhythm. A film such as Asoka cannot be appreciated on a single viewing alone as upon initial contact one is simply bombarded with an onslaught of visual delights, spellbinding sounds and a story that emerges from our past but still reaches into the depths of every man's soul.

Performance wise Shah Rukh Khan is the life of the movie. His acting prowess is detailed to the fullest in emotional gut-wrenching scenes, that portray innocence, rage, peace and longing all through his demeanour and eye-language. Asoka's arrogance and clarity of his every action, coupled with the consistent river of flowing energy is evident through the actor's performance which to his credit leaves one finding the line which ends with the character and turns into actor. Asoka could not only be Shah Rukh's greatest screen incarnation, but also a clear message to international cinema of his screen presence, dedication and mastery of his art.

Kareena Kapoor, as the warrior princess who acts as sister and mother figure to Arya, a cautious then enduring lover to Asoka and emerges as someone on her own personal journey, in search of her identity and sense of belonging while juggling her duties, heart and mind in a three ring circus, Kareena gives what is by far her finest performance to date. After her innocent and natural debut in Refugee, she is finally allowed to once more realise her potential and play a character that only she could do justice to. Her look sans make up, except a few lines accentuating her eyes as the window to her soul, is as pure as the princess herself and the image of her going to get milk, fully wrapped except for her eyes is of sheer cinematic delight. Kareena has mastered the art of acting with her whole body in a short span of time and her performance in Asoka proves this. One hopes her potential is continually unlocked and her future holds many more performances and films of this calibre.

It is ironical that a film inspired by history is destined to make history itself by being the first Indian masterpiece to be shown at so many festivals, in so many countries and shown nationwide breaking into mainstream British cinema. It is certainly one of Indian cinema's finest offerings and deserves the attention it is bound to receive, missing out on this homage to true cinematic form would be like missing history. Go see it.

Fuad Omar.

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16 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Impressive, 12 February 2005

Author: zenaf from NY

This film is not intended to be derogatory towards Buddhists, but does indeed enact the historical beginnings of Buddhism. King Ashoka was a vicious warrior before he was shown the 8-fold path but his conversion did not occur until much blood was spilled in his land. It is unfortunate that other viewers have a skewed version of the conception of Buddhism and take this film to be negative. Nevertheless, I was impressed at the historical accuracy, the strength of the acting, and the vividness in the vision of the director. He chooses very unique positions to shoot the scenes and uses stop-time in very emotionally effective manners. I recommend this film not only for the story but for the visual elements and as an example of an Indian film that offers more than just song and dance.

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18 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrific legend; very well made film, 16 August 2004

Author: lochnessmummy from Chicago, USA

It's really hard for me to evaluate Indian films. Although they appeal to me, I live in a world totally alien to theirs. What I see as a film being interrupted by unnecessary music videos, they might see as the marriage of two vibrant, vital aspects of their culture.

That said, Asoka is a film that I enjoyed very much. The story is epic, complex, and deeply layered, and it almost had me crying in the end (VERY few films can do this). The cast is fantastic, and they did an excellent job. The costumes and the sets were equally great. It's runtime is at 2 hours 45 minutes, but I was left hoping it was going to go a little bit longer. I wanted to know what happened to Davi, and I wanted to learn a few things from Asoka's latter days --when he embarked on his journey towards peace.

This film is great, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

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13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Another 10 minutes would have helped, 1 November 2001

Author: das-7 from Canada

While this engaging film wonderfully depicts the evolution of a young man into the ferocious killing machine emperor called ChandAshoka (Wild Ashoka) it pays little attention to the much more vital legacy as DharmAshoka (Faithful Ashoka). Cutting two songs, and adding another 10 minutes of exposition to show his evolution into the enlightened and compassionate meesenger of Buddhism would have made the film much more complete, and raised it to the level of highest achievement. Ashoka made Kalinga into a centre of Buddhism that endured more than a millennium, until the Shaivaite and Vaishnavite Hindu Renaissance of the 12th and 13th centuries. His legacy as a prophet of multiculturalism, peace and tolerance was insufficiently explored. It might have helped to have had an English translation of the beautiful and profound rock edicts that were shown only as a visual element in the opening and closing credits. It is a shame that Ashoka's Greek ancestry is not even acknowledged in the film. His grandfather Chandragupta, who is seen as convert to the ultra-pacifist Jain faith in the opening scenes, married the daughter of rht edfeated Greek general Seleucus Nicator, who led Alexander the Great's forces to defeat in the Punjab. Ashoka was born of one of Bindusara's Indian wives, which makes Ashoka at least one quarter Greek -- he was the very fusion of the Greco-Indian classical tradition, snd it was he who caused to be erected the collossal Buddhas at Bamiyan, destroyed earlier this year by the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Despite these minor failings it is a superb film, and even today you can wander the sand dunes of the River Daya (Compassion) in southeastern Orissa (formerly Kalinga) and experience the fullimagining of the Ashokan battlefield. Best regards Satya

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Only the dead have seen the end of war., 15 August 2006

Author: Jessica Kolk from Brazil

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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.

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Spectacular Epic, 17 July 2006

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In India, about 260 BC in the Empire of Magadha, the Prince Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan) survives to many betrayals of his brothers, leaded by the evil Susima (Ajit Kumar), who wants to kill him to inherit the throne. Asoka's mother orders him to leave Magadha to save his life, and while traveling, he meets Princess Kaurwaki (Karriena Kapoor) and her brother, Prince Aryan (Sooraj Balaji) from Kalinga, who are undercover and protected by General Bheema (Rahul Dev). Asoka and Kaurwaki falls in love for each other, but the mother of Asoka calls him back to Magadha. When he returns to Kaurwaki, he does not find her, since she was attacked by traitors of Kalinga and was hidden in the house of a loyal vassal. When Asoka's mother is killed by a man of Susima, Asoka becomes mad, kills all his evil brothers but Sugatra, who escapes to Kalinga. Asoka decides to conquer Kalinga, but in the end, he concludes that he has not built an empire, but conquered only corpses and destroyed everything, and he decides to spread love and the Buddhism with his son and his daughter.

"Asoka" is a spectacular epic from Bolywood. In Brazil, there are very few Indian movies released on DVD, but all of them are excellent. "Asoka" is one of the best, with a beautiful romance, very dramatic situations and great actions scenes, and a touching conclusion. The actress Karriena Kapoor is extremely beautiful and sexy, and has a great chemistry with Shah Rukh Khan. The boy Sooraj Balaji has a great performance in the role of a prince. Unfortunately the lyrics of the songs have not been translated in the Brazilian DVD. From other Bolywood movies, I am sure that the songs are very important, since they always tell something about the feelings of the characters in that moment. By the way, the music score is excellent. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Asoka"

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14 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Asoka should be hailed as one of the better Indian movies, 18 June 2004
Author: soul_scion from London, UK

Granted, Asoka doesn't really bring anything new to Indian cinema but then when do many films? This film should be given its due in that its better than most Indian movies of the day - way better. Therefore immediate criticism is harsh.

The music first of all is...very cool. Yes, its not yr typical music of the Indian setting but if u listen, Anu Malik has done something very interesting with the classical instruments of the age. This music has an evolved feel to it, that actually serves the movie very well. Its was an ambitious move that the director pulled off. So many bollywood films have the same songs, the same formula, the same dreary uninventive sound - these songs were different sounding, even if they touched on the same typical subjects. And the lyrics are beautiful in a lot of them (granted not the 'tayar hoja').

the script wasn't amazing but far surpasses the embarrassing lines of some many other Indian movies but it served its purpose. the actions scenes were better crafted then most Indian cinema pieces - the use of cgi would have been tacky and poor - until we have an industry that can create a war scene on full scale its a bad idea.. Shah rukh khan did a good job, kareena kapoor was beautiful (and I'm not a big fan). no one acted cringingly as so many Indian actors do.

finally, yes, the movie may have achieved something more had it been historically correct, but u r warned as a viewer that the film isn't historically correct and some features are fictional. who cares? its still good cinema. not everything needs a wonderful sweeping message.

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11 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
magnificent acting and cinematography, 31 July 2004
Author: sibhi ganapathy from vellore india

the film revolves around a real life incident of India's ancient emperor Asoke the great.

the beginning of the film is simply marvelous, with the emperor Chandragupta Mauriya, renouncing the throne and advising the young prince Asoka not to use the sword.

the story moves quickly onwards projecting asoka as a competent, even brilliant general but ruthless and ambitious. he is embroiled in intrigues with his step brothers, and with his father who is under the power of his step mother who is hostile to his very presence. unable to tame the haughty prince his mother forces him to go into exile.

the plot meanders a little until he meets the princess kaurwaki. interesting sequences follow with a heartbreaking partition of the two lovers and the eventual betrayal of asoka by his brothers.

the emotional parts are fantastic with poetic cinematography. there is some thing for everyone in this film.

Shah rukh khan once again proves that when it comes to the Indian film industry, there are few who can equal him. his screen presence is immense, and once he is on, there is nothing else you can help notice.

Kareena kapoor is good, as the destitute yet haughty princess Kaurwaki.

Supporting castes are excellent, with a special mention of Danny denzongpa, who acts his part to perfection.

the conclusion of the film is in the massive battle of Kalinga. here the fight sequences are real (not animated), with real time filming. hence the effect is great. the stunts though look like expressive ballet at times.

the only thing lacking is an all too brief exposure to the spiritual side of the event,(of the emperor renouncing violence). since this was the turning point in his life a little more on this and a little less on the romance between Asoka and Kaurwaki would have made this a definite hit.

all in all, a marvelous piece of cinema. a must watch for ANYONE.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Likeable Drama/Musical, 29 May 2002

Author: Mitch-38 from Houston, Texas

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.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Gorgeous, 22 July 2003

Author: dj_ik from NYC

I have to say, that after thinking about it for awhile, I really enjoyed this movie. Its growing on me, even now.. It was visually stunning... really beautiful to look at. Of course, most Hindi films are really vivid, but this was exceptional, I think. Really well done by Santosh Sivan.

If you are not a veteran of Hindi films, then you may not fully appreciate this movie... You kinda have to be used to the subtitles, used to the music/dance sequences, and the basic formula that all Hindi films follow, in regards to romance. I mean, the story doesnt focus on Asoka's romantic life, but it does play an important role... Once you get past the first 15 minutes or so, the story really takes off. The story basically is how Prince Asoka rose to power to become King Asoka, and can happen when one is overcome with blind vengeance, despair and hatred...

Shahrukh Khan (Asoka) has got to be by far, the best male Indian actor Ive seen, besides maybe Om Puri. He has great chemistry with Kareena Kapoor and overall, the movie is well-acted.

Asoka is more reminiscent of Braveheart (excellent film), not Gladiator (terrible garbage), which the liner notes suggest. If there is a weak point, it might be the editing...alot of times, after a cut, I felt like there was too big a jump and a scene missing....

Overall an A. I recommend it, especially if you are interested in Indian culture...its based on real events around 3rd century BC.

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