I went to the cinema hall just like all would- with a hope in my heart that this one would be definitely worth watching after seeing those flashy and glitzy promos. Alas, I came out with a sad feeling in my mind...
Asoka does not live up to any of the expectations it came with. Instead it makes one wonder if Bollywood is stepping two steps back for every step forward...Just in case u didn’t understand what I am saying, for every Lagaan u have two duds like Aks and Asoka....
Maybe ’A’ is the most unlucky letter for movies. Whatever is the case, Asoka is nearly IMPERFECT.
Santosh Sivan’s magnum opus is lacking in emotions and most importantly, in story and content. Also, the direction itself is quite boring and rehashes many scenes from earlier hits like DDLJ, Hey Ram, etc....which makes it extremely taxing for the viewer. Although Santosh tries his best, he can’t match a ManiRathnam for sensitive scenes or RajKumar Santoshi for hard-hitting scenes and dialogues.
The epic starts by introducing Asoka, his bro Sushim and their fight to capture the throne. Asoka’s mom realises the graveness of the situation and tells Asoka to leave the empire and head to the forest.
Asoka reaches the forest only to find Kareena(sexposing) bathing under the waterfall and dancing wildly, inspite of the fact that she and her small bro are being hunted by some nutty Mantri of her kingdom. She and Shahrukh, as in all other Potboilers and run-of-the-mill movies fall in love after an initial fight. These sequences go on for ever and bore us too much.Asoka leaves the forest to inform his mom that he has married Kaurwaki(Kareena). But the hunters are breathing down her neck and she is assumed dead. Asoka cries for her, but sadly we don’t feel sorry for him.Too much overdose of love mars the seriousness that was needed.
So far so boring. One may have thought that the script will get more serious once the interval is over. Sadly that is not the case. This time the inspiration is from Hey Ram! Asoka goes for a toss and becomes a vegetable. This time, Hrishita Bhatt(Devi) is the one who takes care of him, and assuming Kaurwaki is dead, he marries her and lives happily. But Kaurwaki is not dead and returns to reunite with Asoka. Next, he goes ballistic and declares war on every Tom Dick and Harry kingdom, and as expected keeps winning all of them. The last war is with Kalinga, of which Kareena is the princess, The rest u don’t want to know, because its simply not worth mentioning.
Overall, the action sequences only invoke a Yawn instead of a ’WOW’. Even the dialogues are hardly worth a mention, and one wishes a better writer like Pathik Vats or Hriday Lani had been used. Also, the sets are not good enough to compete with Lagaan, DCH, or KKKG. All in all, a bad attempt.