Review: What would you do if your brothers were trying to assassinate you, the one you loved was murdered, and everything seemed to be going wrong in your life? Would you lash out at the world and make it feel your pain and anger? This is the question that I ask myself after watching Asoka.

"If something happens to you, all hell will break lose. I will destroy everything. Everything!" Asoka said crossly to his mother. Personally, I don't think I would…but just wait until you see what drives Asoka's need to destroy, and you'll understand why he did what he did. The man was constantly avoiding one assassination attempt after another, made to leave his home by his mother, met a cute girl whom he had to leave, only to find that she died while he was gone. I ask you, was Asoka justified in his actions to have wreaked his vengeance upon the neighboring kingdoms? No. It wasn't… but it sure was fun and entertaining watching him go buck wild on everyone though!

The two main leads, in my opinion are superbly cast. Shah Rukh Kahn plays Asoka, whereas Kareena Kapoor is cast as Princess Kaurwaki. Kareena is utterly impressive as Kaurwaki: a tough pissed off warrior princess in love with Asoka. Her screen presence is absolutely commendable. Shah Rukh Kahn is equally majestic in his role as the disturbed, hard-as-nails prince turned Emperor. I like Shah Rukh, I really do. He was very plausible as the title character. I like his charm and wit, and even more so when he displays his serious side during the grim moments of the movie. If any of his other works are as good as his depiction in Asoka, I will definitely be watching more of his movies.

The action and fight scenes in this movie are particularly entertaining, as they are pretty well done. One scene that sticks out like a sore thumb in my mind one in which Asoka carries a "sheet-metal" sword. I know that sounds weird, but imagine this. It's a sword that's split down the middle, and it moves like a whip, but with less movement. He whips this bad boy about as his foes fall at his feet. Truly a wow factor everyone. In addition to small melee battles, there are a few big epic battles on horseback and ground-based battles. These range from sword fights, to some hand to hand combat. Rest assured, there will be arms and legs lying across the ground when the battles are over. Nonetheless, I was quite impressed.

My only gripe with the movie is that some of the action is unrealistic. By unrealistic, I mean that the actors never really make contact with one another when they're engaging in sword fights or fist fights. And it's obvious that no contact is being made. Another tidbit to take note of is that there is a very small amount of blood in this movie. That's perfectly fine by my standards, but I think that with the addition of blood in the fight scenes or what not could have greatly benefited the overall believability of the action scene. Albeit, there are a couple decapitations and bloodletting here and there. Basically it's just a toned down version of Ridley Scott's Gladiator.

The cinematography is outstanding in this movie, from the lush tropical settings to the dusty desert surroundings. I love Santosh Sivan. I loved his work in his prior movie Dil Se, which had great creativity, and just percolated with the Santosh style. In addition to cinematography, and style, Asoka also has very excellent editing going for it as well. Every scene was placed where it should be, and transitions are as smooth as can be.