The Three Facets of an Emperor. Review on Asoka

Lately, I have come to terms with the fact that I suffer from an uncontrollable passion of watching Bollywood movies. I would like to call it an ''obsessive-compulsive bollywood disorder''. Despite of the fact that 90% of these masala entertainers eternally continue to disappoint me, some hypothetical ray of hope refrains me from keeping myself away from watching such movies.

Last week I got myself to watch 5 movies. 4 of them were nothing short of an intense mental assault while the 5th movie definitely fortified my belief in the ''ray-of-hope'' theory. The chaperon of the army of 4 gray-matter destroying movies was ''The Hero''. The three movies which augmented their leader were ''Chalte Chalte'', ''Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon'' and ''Kash Aap Humare Hote''.

On the verge of a cerebral breakdown caused by these so called entertainers, I picked up ''Asoka''. I honestly expected this movie to catalyze my trip to the booby hatch but it came as a very pleasant surprise instead. I really can't think of a reason why I missed this movie since the time of its release.

As a school going kid, I always had a case for Indian history. As a high school student, I dreamt of making it big as an archeologist (I suffered from a major Indiana Jones-syndrome). Although, my dream remained unfulfilled, my love for the Indian history continues to have place. Movies that are based on our own history definitely draw my attention. A few historical movies that I adore are Gandhi, Legend of Bhagat Singh and Sardar. Nehru's chronicles of Indian history, ''Bharat Ek Khoj'', which was directed by Shyam Benegal was superb. I can't remember missing a single episode of this classic TV show which was telecasted years ago on Doordarshan.

''Asoka'' depicts the life of the third King of ''The Mauryan Empire''. Asoka was the son of Bindusara and the grandson of the founder of The Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta Maurya. The movie depicts the life of Asoka in three different phases.

Asoka-The Tender Prince: The first phase depicts Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan) as the romantic prince of Magadh who falls in love with the exiled princess of Kalinga, Kaurvaki (Kareena Kapoor). Asoka, who is himself exiled under an oath by his mother, meets the exiled Kaurvaki and her brother Arya who are accompanied by their loyal soldier Bheem (Rahul Dev). The affair between Asoka and Kaurvaki is short lived as Bheem forces Asoka to believe that Kaurvaki and Arya were killed during a spy attack. Devastated Asoka returns back to his kingdom and undergoes a complete change of personality from the tender prince to the martinet king.

Asoka-The Tyrant King: On his aisle to kingship, Asoka gets married to a buddhist girl (Hrishita Bhatt) and also overcomes a conspiracy lead by his cousin Sishum (Ajit). Accompanied by his close friend Virat (Danny Denzongpa), Asoka continues to expand his empire by fighting some gory and ruthless battles. He finally lays his eyes on Kalinga and unknowingly fights a gory battle against none other but Kaurvaki.

Asoka-The Pacifist: Discovering that the enemy was none other but Kauvaki and crestfallen by the destruction caused by the war, Asoka undergoes a radical change and finally dispossess violence and acknowledges Buddhism as a means to a peaceful kingdom and life.

As a director, Santosh Sivan does accomplish in making a very interesting motion picture on the life of a historic character. Sivan's cinematography is beyond perfection. But I personally thought the movie fell short in terms of acting and music. Shahrukh and Kareena were not at all convincing as Asoka and Kauvaki. Secondly, the music and lyrics are a treat to hear except for the fact that the movie was based during 250 B.C. I can't imagine people listening to numbers such as ''Raat Ka Nasha'' and ''San Sananan'' during those times. I think it is very important for the film makers to maintain details when making a historic epic. If you believe in ignoring a few drawbacks in the movie, it surely is worth a watch.

Give it a go.. and don't expect too much heroics from the characters.. you might like it ...

PS: Hope you enjoy the read.. Will look forward to your ratings and comments..

Cheers..