Cinematographer turned director Santosh Sivan follows up on his acclaimed 1999 opus Malli with this sweeping historical epic. Asoka, the emperor of the Mauryan dynasty between 274 and 232 B.C., was famed for having unified much of modern-day India and for raising Buddhism from obscurity to the ranks of a world religion. Early in his life, as Emperor of the region of Magadha, he waged a brutal campaign against the neighboring fiefdom of Challenge, leaving the land bloody and ravaged. The war paid
a toll on the young king; having realized the full horror that he wrought, Asoka renounced violence and turned to the spiritual sanctuary of Buddhism. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
Part historical epic, Part booty-shaking music video. While the musical segues could have ended up on the editing room floor, I've sat through worse things than Kareena Kapoor shaking her bootay.
An applaudable effort from Santosh Sivan. If he had shown the guts to make this movie without the song sequences and certain Bolywood gimmicks this could have been a real class act, and well worth showing to an international audience.
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