Producer: Arclight and Films Pvt. Ltd. 
Director: Santosh Sivan 
Cast: Rahul Dev, Kareena Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan
Music: Anu Malik

Shah Rukh Khan had said somewhere in reference to Asoka, that their (himself and Ashok Sivan) attempt was not to make a historical movie, or even a magnum opus, but just a Hindi movie.

Well in that case they have made one, a typical Bollywood film. But weaving a story based on historical character of which very little is know, they indirectly would be raising a lot of confusion in the minds of people as far as understanding of history is concerned.

Hence we have Shah Rukh Khan portrayed as Asoka, the step son of King Bindusara (Gerson da Cunha), son of the great Chandragupta Maurya, Asoka is one of the ascendants to the throne of Magadha.

However Bindusara chooses Asoka’s step-brother, Susima (Ajit Kumar) as the crowned prince which causing great rivalry between the two contenders. So, Asoka's mother Dharma (Subhashini Ali) worried for her son's safety, asks him to leave Magadh in peace and Asoka obeys. Thus, starts a new his for the prince as a commoner.
Asoka lands up in a village where he meets the beautiful, Kaurawaki (KarienaKapoor, the lady has dropped an ‘e’ and added an ‘i’ to her name), her brother and prince Arya (Suraj Balaje) and their bodyguard Senapati Bheema (Rahul Dev). The three are on the run from their enemy who is trying to usurp their right to the throne of Kalinga.

Kaurwaki and Asoka fall in love after a few intimate confrontations, Kaurwaki is not aware that Asoka is the prince and calls him Pavan. Neither is she aware that she isn't a princess. A disapproving Bheema breaks the news of her parentage to an unsuspecting Kaurwaki.
Kaurwaki has an identity crisis that she quickly gets over as Asoka marries her to prove he does not care about her background.

Asoka also meets a village strong man Virat (Danny Denzongpa), they strike a rapport and Virat goes on to become one of Asoka's trusted men.
Asoka gets a message from Magadh that his mother is ill, he leaves with a promise to Kaurwaki that he would return back soon. However when he reaches Magadh, his mother is in good health, but wants him to get his new wife.

So, Asoka rushes back to the village where an injured Bheema tells him that both Kaurwaki and Arya have been killed. Asoka, angry and mournful, goes back to Magadha in a murderous mood. He decides that war and revenge is the only way out since he has already lost everything.
Thus starts Asoka’s rise to power. He wages war against various kingdoms around Magadh as much as against his step-brothers. A few sequences later, an injured Asoka is nursed back to health in a monastery by Devi (Hrishitaa Bhatt in her debut appearance).

Susima tries to kill the injured Asoka, but the attempt is foiled by Devi. Asoka gets to married to Devi. While Devi is carrying his child, his mother too is killed and Asoka can no longer remain silent.
He confronts his brother, who is killed in the following altercation, and then goes on to kill all his other brothers.
But, one brother escapes and takes refugee in Kalinga -- which is ruled by Prince Arya who is still alive.
Asoka now embraces the violent way with vigour and goes about conquering more lands to prove that he is the emperor. Along the way, thousands are killed, the only thorn in his path being Kalinga, a land that has never been under anyone's rule. Against the advice of Virat, Asoka goes ahead and decides to attack Kalinga.

What follows is one of the bloodiest battles with thousands being killed. Kaurwaki -- who is still alive -- decides to take on the enemy. In the battlefield, she puts up a brave fight, but is injured, just as she catches a glimpse of Asoka -- who she had known as Pavan all along -- now her enemy.
While Asoka wins the battle Kalinga, he loses his trusted friends, and even his brother who turns to Buddhism. Even Asoka's wife denounces him.
He finds injured Kaurwaki in the battlefield among the dead and mutilated bodies and realises the enormity of his actions.

Now the plus point, the cinematography is excellent. The war sequence, aka Brave Hearts is as good as any in a Hollywood movie. Technically each frame has been enhanced to the best that technical advancement can and could ensure.

However the film has more drawback than one can phantom. For one, the period drama is not made convincingly and this is avid from the dialogues (word play), music and costumes, especially the music and costumes which are not convincing.

The music and dance sequences are too contemporary, the makers, choreographer and the director could have taken some inspiration for the same from such period drama’s as Utsav or Amrapali which also depicted the same period.

More footage in the film has been wasted on the love affair between the Prince and Kaurwaki then on the political or the socio-psychological aspect that actually changed the warriors mind to denounce material life. The character of princess Kaurwaki is used more to titillate the audience with as much flesh display as modesty could withhold, her semi-clad navel display does showcase her bod in the best of cinematic advantage but the same cannot be said or considered of her talent which is yet to be discovered. At times it really gets on the nerves to see the complete village better dressed in terms of decency than our heroine.

The music of the movie is out of context as much is the dance and costume. There is no synchronized effort to make the period juxtapose at a juncture and deliver us to that period in the sub continents history, which is roughly a few years in BC.

Performance wise, Shah Rukh has failed to convince his audience that it is not him but Asoka the character as he had promised sometime back. Similarly, the unwanted hype surrounding Kariena has made her a larger than life, hence Kaurwaki is lost somewhere in the narration.

Hrithisha Bhatt makes a modest debut (since her actual debut film is held back). The other characters are all actually quite believable and manage to make an impression including Danny Denzongpa, Subhasini Ali, Gerson da Cunha. Once more Rahul Dev stands out, though in a cameo.

The three stooges -- Raghvir Yadav, Johnny Lever, and Suresh Menon -- though have tried an attempt at humour have failed misreably.
An attempt to portray a man embarking on a journey, where he encounters love, passion, loss, betrayal, violence and then finally comes to terms with himself, when he finds peace should involve the audience, which Asoka, sadly, manages only fleetingly.

Time Shah Rukh put on his thinking cap and thought exactly what kind of film he wants to make. Once this is done, he should honestly devote hundred percent to that effort irrespective of what others believe. We have examples of such film makers in the ever green Dev Anand and the more recent Aamir Khan. Time Shah Rukh picked up a few tips from these pros at the game.