As̅oka
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Santosh Sivan
Screenplay by	Santosh Sivan Saket Chaudhary Abbas Tyrewala (Dialogue)
Produced by	Gauri Khan Sanjiv Chawla Juhi Chawla
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Kareena Kapoor Ajith Kumar Hrishitaa Bhatt Danny Denzongpa
Narrated by	Suresh Oberoi
Cinematography	Santosh Sivan
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Songs: Anu Malik Background Score: Sandeep Chowta
Production companies	Dreamz Unlimited Arclightz Films
Distributed by	Dreamz Unlimited
Release date	26 October 2001 (2001-10-26)
Running time	176 minutes (Extended cut) 171 minutes (India) 145 minutes (International)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹13 crore[1]

As̅oka is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language epic historical drama film directed and co-written by Santosh Sivan. It is a dramatized version of the early life of emperor Asoka, of the Maurya Empire, who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as the titular character alongside Kareena Kapoor, Ajith Kumar (in his first and only Hindi film to date), Hrishitaa Bhatt, and Danny Denzongpa. It was produced by Khan, Juhi Chawla and Radhika Sangoi. The screenplay was written by Santosh Sivan and Saket Chaudhary and the dialogue by Abbas Tyrewala. It was originally released as Ashoka: The Great in India.

Asoka was widely screened across the United Kingdom and North America, and was also selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received positive reviews.^[2]

At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Asoka received 5 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Sivan) and Best Actress (Kapoor), and won Best Cinematography (Sivan).

Plot

The film chronicles the early part of the life of Emperor Asoka. It begins with his career as a General in Takshashila and ends with the bloody conquest of the Kalinga.

Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, grandfather of Asoka, of the Maurya empire, has decided to embrace Jainism and abdicate the throne of the empire in favour of his son Bindusara. But his grandson, Prince Asoka, claims his sword. The old emperor explains that this sword is evil, and the sword demands blood and destruction.

A few years later, Prince Asoka, now a brave youth, is battling the rebellious chief of Taxila for his Emperor and father. He figures that his elder half-brother Susima Maurya, who also has an eye on the throne of the empire, has deliberately withheld reinforcements from arriving, but defeats the enemy nevertheless. Asoka returns to the capital victorious and confronts Susima. Later, Susima tries to assassinate Asoka while he is bathing. The fight among the princes makes the Emperor unhappy, and he orders Empress Dharma to control her son Asoka. She compels Asoka to temporarily leave the capital to lead the life of a common person. The Prince is disappointed but leaves nonetheless.

Asoka, alone and disguised as an ordinary traveller, rides to the south. In his travels, he meets a lovely maiden, Kaurwaki and falls in love with her. He also develops a good relationship with her little brother Arya. They are on the run from the Kingdom of Kalinga along with their faithful protector Bheema and are being chased by soldiers of the Kingdom. After saving their lives, Asoka introduces himself as Pawan, hiding his true identity. Kaurwaki and Arya are the Princess and Prince of Kalinga, who fled from their kingdom when the Prime Minister assassinated their parents and took over power. Later, Asoka and Kaurwaki get secretly married.

Soon, Asoka is summoned by his mother, who sent a messenger to tell him she has fallen ill and to come to the capital. The Emperor dispatches Asoka to quell a rebellion in Ujjaini. Before marching to the west, Asoka travels to Kalinga to meet Kaurwaki and Arya. Unable to find them, and not knowing they have gone into hiding, he is informed by General Bheema that they were slaughtered. A heartbroken Asoka attempts suicide but is saved by Virat, who later swears to protect him. Mad with grief and anger, Asoka leads a brutal crackdown in Ujjaini. The assassins sent by Susima injure Asoka in a battle, and Virat saves him. He is taken to a Buddhist monastery at Vidisa to recover.

There, he meets a Buddhist maiden, Devi, who cares for him. Asoka also survives another assassination attempt at Vidisa, this time with the help of Devi. Asoka marries Devi and returns in splendour to Pataliputra. Susima and his brothers are wild with anger from their futile attempts to eliminate Asoka. Emperor Bindusara, who favoured Susima over Asoka, becomes ill and dies. In another vigilante attack, Queen Dharma is stabbed to death by assassins sent by Susima. Angered, Asoka wants to kill Susima but has second thoughts, and Susima is killed by Virat when he tries to kill Asoka behind his back and is appointed emperor.

A few months later, princess Kaurwaki and prince Arya return to Kalinga with Bheema and have the Prime Minister executed for treason. Asoka declares war on Kalinga, not knowing that Kaurwaki is alive. Kaurwaki still does not know that Asoka is Pawan, and both sides prepare for war.

A terrible war is fought in Kalinga. The Maurya army inflicts a crushing defeat on Kalinga. Not content with the mere victory, Maurya soldiers butcher everyone in sight. General Bheema is killed after failing to assassinate Asoka realizing that he is Pawan and Kaurwaki is wounded. Asoka later visits the battlefield, where he discovers his horse, who was supposed to be in Kaurwaki's possession. With a surge of hope, he frantically searches for Kaurwaki and finds her. They have a heart-to-heart talk, and he apologises deeply for his actions. He is interrupted by Arya, who is dying after being pierced with arrows. With Arya dying in his arms, Asoka suddenly realises that his enemies, his family, and even Arya, are all dead because of him. His grandfather's warning about the sword had been correct.

The film ends with Asoka throwing the sword into the water at the same spot as his grandfather, and embracing Buddhism. The final narrative describes how Asoka not only built a large empire but spread Buddhism and the winds of peace throughout the empire.

Cast

Differences from history

"Asoka had embraced Buddhism long before the Kaling War, and yet, as far as historical accuracy is concerned, there's a surprising result: though the whole Pawan/Kaurwaki episode is fantasy, the film mostly avoids messing around with the known facts", wrote historian Alex von Tunzelmann.^[3][4] There is also no historical evidence of a queen ruling Kalinga at the time of Asoka's invasion. The film also does not depict Ashoka's love for Devi.^[3] The film also explicitly suggests Kalinga as a democracy.^[3]

Production

"I was dancing in a train for a song in a movie ("Chaiyya Chaiyya" on the sets of Mani Ratnam's Dil Se..) that Santosh Sivan was lensing, and he came up to me between shots and told me about Asoka," says Shah Rukh Khan. "I could only understand half of what he said but I could see the determination in his eyes, and that, somehow or other, he would make it with or without me. That's 80% of the battle won. I was hooked."^[5][6]

The director, along with the principal costume designer Anu Vardhan, started working on the project two years before they started the actual shooting of the film. Though Vardhan agrees that there was no concept of wearing vests during that era, certain cinematic liberties had been taken because Shahrukh did not wanted to shoot shirtless throughout the film. "After all, it is a mainstream commercial film. During Shah Rukh's forest sequences, he wears square pieces of a blanket-like-material, folded into two and cut in between, to pass around the neck. Another piece of cloth was tried around his waist, acting as a belt. There was no stitching involved." Anu explains, "While researching for the film, we discovered that body art was a prominent part of that time. For the character of Kaurwaki (Kareena), we used different designs of tattoos." The armours and shields are worn by the artistes also form an important part of the costume for the final war sequences. Metal jackets composed of special fibre glass were made for around 4000 members of the cast. "These metal jackets are extremely light and comfortable and were made in Madras by more than 50 workers," she explains.^[7]

"I also tried to give the different parts of the film different looks: for example when the viewer is taken to Magadha (Bihar), the temples and houses have been made using black granite while when we are in Kalinga (Orissa) I have used brown sandstone and earth tones to generate a different feel. Also I worked with only six pillars in the film, it is hard to imagine that once you see the film", says Sabu Cyril.^[8]

The film was locations such as Panchmarhi (the bulk of the romance between Asoka and the princess), Maheshwar (the palace intrigues of Pataliputra), Madhya Pradesh, Jaipur (battle scenes), Igatpuri and Bhubaneswar (the Kalinga portions). More than half the film was shot indoors on the studio floors of Film City and Filmistan.^[4] The elaborate final battle scene (the battle fought against the Kalingas) employed over six thousand extras and hundreds of elephants. Some of the actors portraying warriors in the film were masters of Kalari, who used their expertise. They were the only ones to use real weapons in the filming. The song "Raat Ka Nasha" was picturised at Bhedaghat and Panchmarhi in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh amidst the Narmada River.^[2][8][9]

The film is also known for using minimal special effects.^[4] While Lagaan was made at considerable expense, Asoka had only a moderate budget. Sivan says he didn't want any special effects, and no digitally augmented crowds.^[5] Priyanka Chopra turned down the offer to appear in a song in the film.^[10]

Soundtrack

The songs of the movie were composed by Anu Malik. Initially, A. R. Rahman was signed in to compose the film's music,^[11] but for reasons unknown, he opted out. Malik stepped in to compose the songs, while Sandeep Chowta was brought on board to for the background score. Gulzar wrote the lyrics for five songs, while one song was written by Anand Bakshi ("San Sanana"). The soundtrack was very successful and according to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 15,00,000 units sold, the album was one of the year's the highest-selling.^[12]

Reception

Miniseries

StarPlus launched an extended miniseries version of the film, split into five episodes from 28 May 2002 to 25 June 2002.^[24][25]

Awards and nominations

See also

• Lists of historical films
• List of historical films set in Asia

Further reading

• Sheikh, Mushtaq (2001). The Making of Asoka. HarperCollins Publishers India. ISBN 9788172234362.

References

External links

• Asoka at IMDb
• Asoka at Rotten Tomatoes
• Asoka at Box Office Mojo
• Asoka at Bollywood Hungama