this is the movie that the first one that makes me tear. and there are only two that make me tear. ------line of smirk boarder------ /*this is the movie that the first one that makes me tear. and there are only two that make me tear. this is the movie that the first one that makes me tear. and there are only two that make me tear.this is the movie that the first one that makes me tear. and there are only two that make me tear.this is the movie that the first one that makes me tear. and there are only two that make me tear*/

This film takes prime spot in my list of worst films ever. It is not about Asoka the great, but Asoka the shallow, annoying fool. I am sure that the legendary King Ashok must be turning in his grave after the release of this film. My biggest objection to this film is that all it does is touch upon the fact that Ashok decided to sacrifice violence for the sake of peace. This should have been the main focus of the film for this is the main attraction of the legend. Instead, the director portrays a run off the mill love story, guiding it under the name of a great personality to sell a very mundane affair. This film suffers on all counts. I'll try to make it brief. Beginning with the glaring aspects, the film has absolutely no budget to speak off. Kings and commoners look alike, all seem to be beggars which is attempted to be compensated under the name of realism. Acting is pathetic, with Shahrukh doing his routine over the top tactics, and Kareena struggling to emote in a single scene. Rahul Dev and the rest of the cast are as bad as ever. The story conveys nothing about the political drama of the time, and simply moves from one cliché bollywood scene to another. The dialogues and songs have absolutely no authenticity, and are difficult to relate to a historical film. Coming to Asoka, the lead character of this film who dominates ninety nine percent of the screen space (others are there only because the director had to show the faces of those mentioned on history), his portrayal is one of the most ridiculous ever even by Hindi cinema standards. He loves nothing more than his sword in childhood, decides to give it up behind a weird girl, decides to give up his loyalty to her for a girl who is rejected by her suitor, decides to give up his wife and children to avenge his mother's death, and finally decides to give up his victory for his old darling and her innocent brother. Phew! I wish they'd given up on making this film at some point. Talking about other characters, Kaurwaki whines and sobs through the film and surprisingly; after a complete scene of the mutual decision of Kalingans to participate in the war, men and women alike; we are told that she is responsible for bringing the women into the war!? She learns to fight from Asoka, learns that she is adopted, but does nothing to help Kalingans until after the damage is done. Devi is the harbinger of peace who is the master of emotional blackmail in this film. She, supposedly unintentionally, takes a break early on in her wedding to give Asoka medicine and ends up marrying him due to 'unforeseen' circumstances. She also promises to keep her children away from Asoka to prevent him from ending his own lineage, and we are told in the end that his children helped him in his peace mission without any explanation for the same. Dharma is the lady who existed only to die in this film. Virat is the supposed comedian who never looks funny, and turns unexpectedly heroic at the end. He alongwith the routine comedians, appear to be creepy leeches who cannot pass off as funny going even by the lowest of standards. Sushim is another character only meant to die. This is one of the first films that gives no development or qualities to the protagonist, that would strengthen the hero's character. With a heavy heart, I must admit that a very silly current serial on the life of Ashok is a thousand times better than this film. In terms of budget, performances and even the fantasy based characterization. Another example of the hotshots in Hindi cinema taking their fame for granted.

I understand that movies are made for the sake of entertainment, but I am ashamed that the only type of entertainment that is appreciated by Indian viewers is romance, which this movie is really about. I read the comments section of this movie and I see a lot of people make excuses to why so much romance was involved in what should have been a serious dramatization of Asoka the tyrant and Asoka the saint. They say that without romance the movie would not have been entertaining. The ones that say this likely have never seen the real good stuff such as Lawrence in Arabia. Seriously, imagine Lawrence of Arabia movie, not imagine if several scenes portraying his multilayered character were replaced with some romantic scenes with a scantily clad beauty in the desert. That movie would have been laughed at globally. A similar form of adulteration was done in the plot of Asoka. I am startled by the kind of praise this movie has received despite the utter dilution and corruption of topic at hand. The problem with general Indian audience is they do not even know what makes a good movie. If someone made the movie Asoka without romance and mostly focusing on conquests and spiritual messages, the same fans who are praising this movie would have loved it and probably called their all time favorite. Problem with Indian movie making industry is you very rarely get movies that have been flawlessly directed and focused on a certain topic. This has made the fanbase laud mediocrity. I am terribly disappointed in Santosh Sivan who went this route, possibly at the behest of producers. I do not doubt Sivan's credentials, but someone like Gowariker would have probably made a far superior flick by condensing the romance to about 10% of what we saw. Sivan and SRK probably took this route to earn profits, but this movie was a huge disappointment at the box office. I believe that if this movie got a Gowariker treatment where he would not give two f***s about catering to the masses, the movie would have done much better.

Was this a movie? I have seen a lot if Indian movies (natural being an Indian) but I have rarely come across something as bad as this. Truly speaking, Shahrukh Khan simply didn't have the funds to make this sort of a movie. Asoka, the greatest among the Indian kings is reduced to a dacoit, never he does come across as the Empreror whose kingdom spanned across India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmur. The acting was average to say the least. Don't get me wrong, Shahrukh Khan is a great actor and he may be the king of bollywood but he can not potray some one like Asoka on the screen. His best roles have been in movies like Dil to Pagal hai, Dilwale..... and he should stick to that! This was a mockery!