Aśoka

Aśoka (2001)

अशोक

Only the dead have seen the end of war

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.

Date of release
2001-09-13
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (178)
Runtime
2h 55m
Genres
Action, Adventure, Drama, History, Romance, War
Director
Santosh Sivan

Casting

Interesting facts

As̅oka is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language epic historical drama film directed and co-written by Santosh Sivan. It is based on the early life of emperor Asoka, of the Maurya Empire, who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BC. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as the titular character alongside Kareena Kapoor, Rahul Dev, Danny Denzongpa, Hrishitaa Bhatt, with Ajith Kumar in his Hindi debut who made a special appearance in the film. It was produced by Dreamz Unlimited and Arclightz Films. The screenplay was written by Santosh Sivan and Saket Chaudhary with dialogues written by Abbas Tyrewala. It was originally released as Ashoka: The Great in India.

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."

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.

"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", said Sabu Cyril.

The film was shot at various locations, such as Pachmarhi (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.

The film is also known for using minimal special effects. 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. Priyanka Chopra turned down the offer to appear in a song in the film.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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