Aśoka (2001)

As̅oka is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language epic historical drama film directed and co-written by Santosh Sivan. It is based on the early life of emperor Asoka, of the Maurya Empire, who ruled most of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BC. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as the titular character alongside Kareena Kapoor, Rahul Dev, Danny Denzongpa, Hrishitaa Bhatt, with Ajith Kumar in his Hindi debut who made a special appearance in the film. It was produced by Dreamz Unlimited and Archlightz Films. The screenplay was written by Santosh Sivan and Saket Chaudhary with dialogues written by Abbas Tyrewala. It was originally released as Ashoka: The Great in India. Asoka was widely screened across the United Kingdom and North America, and was also selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received positive reviews. However, the film was a box-office failure upon release. It was dubbed into Tamil as Samrat Ashoka. At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Asoka received 5 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Sivan) and Best Actress (Kapoor), and won Best Cinematography (Sivan).