Asoka (2001-movie) : Bollywood Hindi Film

Asoka Movie Details :

Asoka is a 2001 Indian epic historical drama film directer and co-written by Santosh Sivan. It is a dramatised version of the early life of emperor Asoka, of the Maurya dynasty, who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE.The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Ajith Kumar Danny Denzongpa and Hrishita Bhatt.

It was producer by Shah Rukh 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. The Tamil release title is Samrat Ashoka.

• Directer : Santosh Sivan
• Producer : Gauri Khan,Juhi Chawla
• Screenplay : Santosh Sivan,Saket Chaudhary
• Starring : Shah Rukh Khan,Kareena Kapoor,Ajith Kumar,Hrishita Bhatt
• Narrated : Suresh Oberoi
• Music : Anu Malik
• Cinematography : Santosh Sivan
• Edited : A.Sreekar Prasad
• Casting : Ghanteshwar T. Guru
• Art Direction : Sabu Cyril
• Costume Design : Manish Malhotra,Anu Vardhan
• Makeup Department : Ravi Indulkar,Shivaji Jhadhav,Jigana,Loretta
• Special Effects : Rajiv Agarwal,Tarun Agarwal,Prafull Gade
• Action Directer : Pammi Bhai,Panduran Chavhan,Sham Kaushal,Pali,Heera Singh
• Production Company : Arclightz and Films Pvt. Ltd.,Dreamz Unlimited
• Distributors : E Stars Films,First Look Internationall ,Intergroove Media,Laser Paradise,Metrodome Distribution ,Mongrel Media
• Genres : Action,Biography,Drama,History,Romance,War
• Release date : 26 October 2001
• Running time : 171 mins
• Country : India
• Language : Hindi

Asoka Movie Trailer :

Star Cast of The Film :

• Shah Rukh Khan as Ashoka Maurya/Pawan
• Karan Dewani as young Ashoka
• Kareena Kapoor as princess Kaurwaki
• Ajith Kumar as Susima Maurya
• Hrishita Bhatt as Maharani Devi, Ashoka’s first wife
• Danny Denzongpa as Virat
• Rahul Dev as Bheem
• Gerson Da Cunha as Samrat Bindusara
• Subhashini Ali as Rani Dharma
• Umesh Mehra as Samrat Chandragupta Maurya
• Sooraj Balaji as prince Arya
• Johnny Lever as Maurya soldier
• Raghuvir Yadav as Maurya soldier
• Suresh Menon as Maurya soldier
• Shilpa Mehta as Charumitra, Susima’s mother
• Vineet Sharma as Sugatra
• Viveek Sharma as Sugidha
• C. L. Gurnani as the Pandit
• Madhu Varshitt as Rajkumar Vitashoka
• Mithilesh Chaturvedi as Kalinga prime minister
• Shweta Menon as Nandaneshwari, the flower seller
• Rajlaxmi Khanvilkar in an item number
• Gayatri Jayaraman in an item number
• Dimple Inamdar in an item number

Story of The Film :

Prince Ashoke (Shahrukh Khan), heir to the Magadha Kingdom, bowing to his mother’s (Shilpa Mehta) demand forsakes his princely status and goes to live in the wild for awhile. There he meets and falls in love with Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor). He identifies himself as Pawan, not wanting to disclose his identity yet. Ashoke has to return to Magadha, but when he returns to find and wed Kaurwaki, he is told by Bheema (Rahul Dev) that Kaurwaki and her brother Arya have been killed. Devastated Ashoke returns home. On the way home he is attacked and Devi (Hrishitaa Bhatt), of the Buddhist faith rescues him and tends to him till he gets well. As a result, Devi’s marriage to her groom is cancelled. Ashoke weds her and brings her to Magadha, only to be told by his father that since Devi is not of the same race as he, she cannot be welcomed. Ashoke leaves with Devi and lives in Ujjaini. Soon Devi gets pregnant, and this arouses jealously and hatred amongst Ashoke’s step-brothers. As a result they …

Production :

“I was dancing in a train for a song in a movie (Chaiya Chaiya 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 principal costume designer Anu Vardhan, started working on the project two years before they started the actual shooting of the film. Though Anu agrees that there was no concept of wearing vests during that era, certain cinematic liberties have 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 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.

“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.

The film was locations such as Panchmarhi (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 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 Madhya Pradesh amidst the Narmada River.

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.

Asoka Movie Songs / Music :

The songs of the movie have been created by Anu Malik. Initially, A. R. Rahman was signed in to compose the film’s music,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 the year’s one of the highest-selling

• “San Sanana” – Alka Yagnik, Hema Sardesai
• “Raat Ka Nasha” – K. S. Chithra & Chorus
• “Roshini Se” – Alka Yagnik, Abhijeet Bhattacharya
• “O Re Kaanchi” – Shaan, Suneeta Rao, Alka Yagnik
• “Raat Ka Nasha (Duet)” – K. S. Chithra, Abhijeet Bhattacharya & Chorus
• “Aa Tyaar Hoja” – Sunidhi Chauhan
• “Asoka Theme” – Instrumental

“San Sanana” Full Video Song :

• Song: San Sanana
• Singers: Alka Yagnik
• Lyrics: Gulzar
• Music Director: Anu Malik

“O Re Kaanchi” Full Video Song :

• Song: O Re Kanchi
• Singers: Alka Yagnik, Shaan
• Lyrics: Gulzar
• Music Director: Anu Malik

Asoka Movie Review :

This film review are Mostly Positive from Critics, IMDB Public Reviewing site give 6.5 Star Out Of 10 Star with Reviewers are 13,114.

A trashy movie that is not only boring, but extremely misleading. This is a film that is supposed to be happening in 2-3rd century BC, and at least be sketching the life of king Ashoka, The Great. The film fails miserably to do any justification to its title, which unfortunately has been used shamelessly as a gimmick to sell this trash mainly to Indian cosmopolitan and western audience. The film in the beginning claims not to be accurate, but it is no excuse for abandoning the truth altogether.

The film is boring, and has copied some of the ideas from GLADIATOR, and BRAVEHEART. The war scenes are ridiculous. From the typical Bollywood formula movie angle, it is an average movie. Cinematography and songs are good.

Critics Rating  by Taran Adarsh, from Times Of India give 2.5 star out of 5 Star.

Asoka Movie Box Office Collection :

INDIA

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