Rating: 
Summary: An unexpected treasure from India
Review: I have seen quite a bit of Indian film but none like this. This film was so different from the typical "Bollywood" cinema I was pleasantly take back by it. What was most impressive about the film was the role of Asoka. The character was portrayed with so much dimension and complexity that I felt every bit of his love, pain, loss, anger, and sorrow as I watched. The performance by Shahrukh Khan was amazing, as if he was born to play this role. The beautiful (and brave for the director didn't allow any makeup for the film's heroine, save the henna tatoos) Kaurwaki, portrayed by Kareena Kapoor reflected the female counter part to Asoka. The same intensity and raw passion showed her own journey through love, gain, and loss as Asoka.On first sight, some viewers may be offended by the costumes worn by Kaurwaki (as it is a bit scant) but the actress carries it off well and with dignity making her fit in well with the historical setting of the piece. The beauty and cinematic grandeur of the film was also fantastic to watch. I wish they would have put it in wide-screen however, as it cuts off a lot of the beauty of the landscape. The whole set is kept simple yet beautiful and mesmerizing, making it believable that such an emperor lived and existed at that particular time. The battle scenes were fantastic and one of the finest ever seen. It lacked the goriness of the Gladiator but it conveyed the devastation of war just as strongly. I can go on forever with praises for the film, but I won't. Just buy it or rent it, it's worth it. The complexity of the story, the characters, and the richness of the set and cinematography puts this film on my A list. To top it off the music is beautiful and haunting, wonderfully choreographed, even if you're not into "musicals." The movie isn't a musical but it has the typical Indian film music numbers. The whole movie is pretty serious and conveys a strong message of love and peace, but subtlely so it's not so cliche. Highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Always capturing
Review: This was my first bollywood movie that I ever seen and I love it! I rented it from video stores several times and finally my mom bought me the movie.
The scenery is breath taking and every part of this movie never had a dull moment. Asoka intensely emerged me into romance,hatred,war, betrayal,desire and at the same time consisted of comedic elements.
I love this movie so much and I will never tire of it. This is the only movie that I would watch more than twice in one year. Please watch this captivating movie.
Rating:
Summary: "What lies in my destiny?"
Review: Fans of Indian film should be thrilled by this exciting epic story based on the life of the Emperor Asoka who ruled India in the 3rd century B.C. When he became emperor, Asoka rejected violence, embraced Buddhism, and wrote a sound set of Edicts that survive to this day. The film "Asoka" is concerned with Asoka's rise to the throne of India. Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan) is one of several royal brothers--all sons of the ruler of the kingdom of Magadha in India. Asoka, however, is the son of a less-favoured wife, and Prince Susima will inherit the throne. Assassination attempts and fighting amongst the royal princes causes Asoka's mother to beg him to leave Magadha. Prince Asoka leaves, and he also promises his mother that he will keep his identity a secret. On his travels, he meets Princess Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor) and her brother Prince Arya (Suraj Balaje)--both of the neighbouring kingdom of Kalinga. Following the assassination of their royal parents, Kaurwaki and Arya are on the run in the company of the loyal general, Bheema (Rahul Dev).
"Asoka", directed by Santosh Sivan, is everything that's best in great Indian cinema. There's drama, adventure, excitement, battles and romance all wrapped up in this colourful, exotic product, and there's even some comic relief to be found in domestic tiffs. The film's themes, however, also raise many thought provoking questions about duty, violence and revenge, and since this is the story of how Asoka became a great emperor, the film charts his maturity through piviotal events which occur in his life. The scene when Asoka first meets the Princess Kaurwaki is the epitome of the Indian presentation of romance, and in true Indian fashion, many of the love scenes are erotic but involve very little touching. One amazing fantasy sequence allows Kaurwaki to swim all over Asoka, and this scene is extremely sensual. There are also several lively, dance routines throughout the film, and an absolutely thrilling soundtrack complements the action. "Asoka" is an intensely riveting, bold story, and I literally held my breath in parts. Fans of Indian cinema (Bollywood) dash out and get this film--you'll love it--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining!
Review: This is a movie about Asoka's life, an exceptional indian emperor who lived 3 centuries BC, knowned for his bloody conquests before spreading buddhism teachings across Asia. This is my first Bollywood movie and I found out they really have the sense of entertainment! Everything is included: Drama, Action, Romance, Historical, Biography, Epic, even songs and dancing!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Inauthentic
Review: I was disappointed by this movie. The dancing was so Bollywoody and inauthentic. The whole movie with its singing and dancing does a disservice to the subject. Awful.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it! I love Shahrukh Khan!!!
Review: I adore this film. It has some of the usual Bollywood film traits, with song-and-dance numbers that *can* tend to make the film drag on a bit longer than Americans are used to. However, after watching 4 or 5 Bollywood films, you will find that you soon get used to the different pace and length of these films, and really start to enjoy them. It takes getting used to a whole different set of film conventions, but once you dive in, it doesn't take long to get acclimated. This film is a good one to start with, because it has a lot of action, romance, cool battle scenes, and really lets Shahrukh Khan do a bit more than just silly slapstick or romantic comedy. I think he is quite underrated. He's not the greatest actor of all time, but what he does with his limited range, he does very well. He reminds me a lot of Harrison Ford, with the consistent quality of craftsmanship with which he approaches his work. I am always thoroughly entertained by Shahrukh Khan's films, and I can confidently recommend this film to anyone curious about Hindi cinema. It is a semi-historical drama about the life of the ancient Indian emperor Asoka, who ruled about 200 years after the founding of Buddhism. The film relates how he became a bloodthirsty warrior, and his gradual journey toward a nonviolent worldview (he is the first Buddhist-convert ruler of India). This film will appeal to Americans who enjoyed Braveheart, and other historical-epic films with big, dramatic battle sequences. 5 STARS
Rating:
Summary: Friggin' awsome..
Review: Man...I just watched this movie and I must have it. It has everything that constitutes a good movie: action, romance, plot, suspence, unforseen turn of events, great music, jaw-droping cinematigraphy (colorfull sets, beautiful shots), good looking actors who are awesome actors-they were trully beliavable which I imagine would be hard doing this tipe of movie. And besides all that the story, simply the story-even told-not watched, is so frigging interesting man.. all in all... an awsome movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Asoka is a good movie
Review: i am a chinese ,yesterday , the movie program of our county TV station played two indian movie ,the one of them is Asoka ,i am very like the main actor,he is very handsome ,the main actor of anther movie is also from asoka ,i donot know the main actor's name ,but i like him ,his style is very gentle ,also the indian movie have special style ,it is dance and song ,it is different from qther county,especialy China,so i felt so good when i wacthed indian movie ,especialy the mian actor of asoka
my english is not well,i hope i will be indean's friend
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