The epic tale of King Asoka's life is recounted.The epic tale of King Asoka's life is recounted.The epic tale of King Asoka's life is recounted.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 3 wins & 17 nominations total
Gerson Da Cunha
- King Bindusara
- (as Gerson da' Cunha)
Subhashini Ali
- Dharma
- (as Subhashini)
Johny Lever
- Magadha Soldier
- (as Johnny Lever)
Raghubir Yadav
- Magadha Soldier
- (as Raghuvir Yadav)
Sabir Masani
- Giri
- (as Shabir Masani)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured review
This film is not intended to be derogatory towards Buddhists, but does indeed enact the historical beginnings of Buddhism. King Ashoka was a vicious warrior before he was shown the 8-fold path but his conversion did not occur until much blood was spilled in his land. It is unfortunate that other viewers have a skewed version of the conception of Buddhism and take this film to be negative. Nevertheless, I was impressed at the historical accuracy, the strength of the acting, and the vividness in the vision of the director. He chooses very unique positions to shoot the scenes and uses stop-time in very emotionally effective manners. I recommend this film not only for the story but for the visual elements and as an example of an Indian film that offers more than just song and dance.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaShah Rukh Khan wanted Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to be cast in the role of Kaurwaki. However, the director, Santosh Sivan, wanted to cast an actress with whom he hadn't already been paired in a leading role. Shahrukh also recommended Sushmita Sen to play the singing dancer in the bar.
- Alternate versionsInternational version runs 150 minutes. Uncut version runs 180 minutes
- ConnectionsFeatured in 47th Filmfare Awards (2002)
- SoundtracksSan Sanana
Written by Anand Bakshi
Composed by Anu Malik
Performed by Alka Yagnik and Hema Sardesai
Courtesy of Sony Music India
- How long is Asoka?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- ₹130,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $731,277
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $337,464
- Oct 28, 2001
- Gross worldwide
- $1,405,414
- Runtime2 hours 56 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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