I've finally got down to viewing Asoka in its entirety, given that my closest shave was when it screened on television some years back, but I got interrupted with an extremely long phone call, which left me with only 10 minutes into the start, and the last 10. Yes, I knew how it ended, but who's satisfied without getting at the meat? Moreover, the complaints that surrounded the film also intrigued me, as it really seemed that the dramatic license taken to interpret a BC-era story had met with plenty of objections for not being historically accurate.<br /><br />Given India's rich history, there isn't a lack of stories involving kings of the past, such as that portrayed in Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar. Asoka took on similar romantic proportions, in that at its core it has a love story to tell, rather than one focused on waging war throughout the lands, although this was touched upon in the latter half of the film, stemming from a death of his heart, and the embracing of a rage against the known world.<br /><br />The first half introduces us to the star-crossed lovers, and the usual boy-meets-and-woos formula. Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan), being the favourite son of the Magahda empire, is in line for the throne, to the detest of his brothers. Rather than allow the family to disintegrate into chaos, his mum sends him away in exile to his objection, but his love for his mom meant obedience, and he journeys into rival kingdom of Kalinga incognito as a commoner. That of course still doesn't stop his brothers, especially the next in line Susima (Ajit Kumar) from continuous plotting his eradication.<br /><br />Then there's Kareena Kapoor (credited as Karriena Kapoor, in her first pair up with SRK and looking more voluptuous than her skinnier self now) as Kaurwaki, the princess who together with the king-in-waiting Prince Aryan (Sooraj Balaji) and their trusted general Bheema (Rahul Dev) are in hiding because of a plot from someone in the democratic senate out to murder them to take over the throne. So you have set up a Romeo & Juliet circumstance, where descendants of the royal households fall in love, and also have to deal with the rubbish politics back home which bays for their blood.<br /><br />The film paints a very emotional Asoka that Shah Rukh Khan excelled in bringing out, especially when three women in his life played an important part in his life-changing decisions, such as his mom's involvement for him to see the outside world, Kaurwaki in being his first true, and unattainable love that he yearns and pines for, and his eventual wife Devi (Hrishitaa Bhatt), a Buddhist who would be instrumental in his embracing of the religion after coming to his senses in the aftermath of his most brutal war waged just because of his insatiable appetite for more territory, though of course done in the name of uniting India.<br /><br />But with romance out of the way, SRK also showed off the result of his training in the numerous swordfights he gets put into. The designers here had made his calling card, a "demonic" sword that has a bloodlust, resemble a little like He-Man's power sword, but without mythical influences of course. The other weapon that he wields, which is the more impressive of the two, is a double-bladed bendy-sword, which functions more closely as a whip. Nasty piece of equipment that, though Kareena herself do have set action sequences dedicated to her and showed she's no pushover too.<br /><br />While the story shows how Asoka transforms through the stages, the middle section surprisingly was the best part, as it was the bridge between the two distinct halves which straddles the romance and the warrior aspects. Here Santosh Sivan and Saket Chaudhary's screenplay takes on liberties into bridging the two together, and it's quite engaging, with that sense of dramatic irony always omnipresent, and Fate having a field day with the characters involved, providing a catalyst for that inevitable charge toward change. It's somewhat predictable of course, but presents that sense of impending doom and gloom that the narrative turns towards.<br /><br />For a film made in 2001, the editing here did seem a little jarring, but further research explained that this was inherent to the version of the DVD viewed, which included a very obvious missing Interval title-card, which splits the film into two given the industry's run time for films. The song sequences of the movies now try not to have spatial and time warps and transportations, and for a film back then, it's still a technique (if you will) used to put the romancing characters in far out locales and situations. I'm not complaining, since my favourite song of the film has this incredible dance sequence between King Khan and Kareena (choreographed by Farah Khan) beautifully filmed against some surreal, haunting backdrops.<br /><br />I feel that this interpretation for the screen would also suffice, though stopping short at what Asoka is more renowned for, the propagation of Buddhist teachings across asia, and his emblem, the Chakra, emblazoned on the Indian flag of today.