King Khan as Prince Asoka
The tagline for Asoka is: Only the dead have seen the end of war. In many ways that about sums up the film...
[This is my second encounter with Sinister Shahrukh in a month!]
Asoka is a pretty cool story. Shahrukh did a great job progressing through angst-ridden agressiveness to impassioned love to calculated vengence. It was a treat to watch. As much as I may not care for Kareena, off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone else who could carry the "warrior princess" vibe.
The cinematography in the film was very impressive though a bit self-reflective at times. Every other scene had moments that were not necessarily narrative but were visually appealing. My absolute fave was Roshini Si. I loved the monotone set/costume scheme, use of shadows--contrast of dark and light and that weird slow-motion reverse thing they kept doing. Very cool.
One strange thing was Asoka's periodic nose bleeds. I'm guessing it's significant because it would be to strange to do on a whim. Anyone want to drop some knowledge on that one?
While this was a serious film and presented itself as such, it still had a very Shahrukhophilic feel. The Badshah treated us to no less than 5 variations on bathing. As an encore, I present:
III. The depths of despair
V. Vengeance Cometh
VII. Au natural
All that aside, I have one last question. If you were going to battle where there was swords and stuff, would you wear this outfit? Just curious.And because I can, I'd like to point out that the framing of the next to last scene of Asoka reminded me of the last scene in The Passion which was awfully eerie. Asoka came out first (2001) so I guess it's just one of those strange coincidences...
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6 comments:
"I can't think of anyone else who could carry the "warrior princess" vibe." Actually, I think Preity Zinta could have carried the role even better. But that is just me. :)
I'm totally with you on all of your points. I luuurve this movie and everyone in it. (I need to see more Ajith, speaking of which.) It's so eerie and weird. It seems to get a lot of criticism about not telling the whole Ashoka story, but I actually like that, since a lot of the audience for whom this was made would know that already. I like the "pre-story" story, even if it's made up. And I love that they say at the beginning that this isn't factual.
Nice catch on the bathing. Wonder if water represents the same thing in each of the iterations? No idea about the nosebleeds - I'll do some looking (inner librarian loves that question!).
Hmm.. interesting that you found SRK 'sinister' in this film... I didn't, not even when Ashok lost it and went on his killing spree. At that point he seemed even more frail and 'human' (in a way) to me, than he did before he went back home. I think SRK did a good job of portraying the vulnerability, depression and weakness beneath the bloodthirst and show of strength. The story told in the film had some interesting parallels with one of my country's national heroes, a musician. But that's another story...
Nice screencaps, BTW.
So, if Asoka (a Bollywood film) came out after The Passion of the Christ (a Hollywood film), that means that scene was "copied"; but because The Passion came out after Asoka, that means the scene is just a coincidence...???
who knows anon. I heard the final scenes of The Passion were copied from another Jesus film...
King Khaan of The Bollywood
Sharukh Khan, the NO 1 hero and actor in the Bollywood today, was born on 2 Nov 1965 in New Delhi.
The debut of the Khan in to the Bollywood was a phenomena. He had no godfather, no love story for him to begin with
but quite amazingly a negative characterisation which he had to check himself with. Might be - who knows he opted
for that but what an exhibition of a skill! It's not just one skill he actually posessed - but an ocean of skills. An all
round capacity and versatility of skills.
http://desidirectory.com/desi-indian-blogs/
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