Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat

Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat
Genre	Historical drama
Created by	Ashok Banker
Written by	Ashok Banker
Directed by	Prasad Gavandi
Creative director(s)	Jitendra Srivastava, Nafees Khan
Starring	See Cast section
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	442[1]
Production
Producer(s)	Abhimanyu Raj Singh Rupali Singh
Location(s)	Karjat, Raigad district, Maharashtra, India
Cinematography	Deepak Pandey
Running time	Approx. 20 minutes
Production company(s)	Contiloe Entertainment
Release
Original network	Colors TV
Picture format	576i SDTV 1080i HDTV
Original release	2 February 2015 (2015-02-02) – 7 October 2016 (2016-10-07)
External links
Official website

Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat (English: The Great Emperor Ashok) is a 2015 Indian historical drama serial,^[2] that aired on Colors TV.^[3][4] The show was created and written by author and screenwriter Ashok Banker.^[5][6] It stars Mohit Raina as Ashok^[7][8] while Siddharth Nigam portrayed the young version of the character.^[9][10][11]

Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat is based on the life of Ashoka (304–232 BCE), the third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India.^{[6][12][13][14][15]} The historical drama was produced by Contiloe Entertainment, and directed by Prasad Gavandi. The show premiered on 2 February 2015 with 1 hour telecast duration for first 20 episodes.^[16][17][18] The serial ended on 7 October 2016.^[19]

Plot

Initially, the show focused on the life and love story of Ashoka's parents Dharma and Bindusara. Bindusara is the present king of Magadh, while his step-mother conspires against him. Bindusara was attacked by Helena's men but saved by a beautiful and intelligent Brahmin girl named Subhadrangi/Dharma. Impressed by her skills, Bindusara falls in love and marries her. Later, Dharma becomes pregnant. The session ends when one of Bindusara's other wives Noor and her father Mir Khorasan try to kill Dharma. Dharma gives birth to a baby boy and names him "Ashoka" (without sorrow).

14 years later

The show later on focuses on the life of young Ashoka getting guidance from Chanakya who helps Ashoka against all obstacles. Dharma does not let Ashoka know anything about his father but Ashoka figures it out through certain clues and manages to re-unite Bindusara and Dharma. Chanakya also believed that Ashok will be the great ruler of Magadha because of his selfless nature and his oath of serving motherland till his last breath. But Ashok never wanted the throne as he thinks that his brother; Siyamak will be the perfect ruler for Magadha. Meanwhile, Chanakya along with Radhagupta and his other disciples are busy in protecting the throne of Magadha from the evil and corrupt practices done by Helena and the other enemies of Magadha and Chanakya's oath of protecting his motherland forever created hindrance in the way of Helena; who at last created a plot to kill Chanakya. Meanwhile, Chanakya came to know that from some time; Charumitra practiced black magic on Dharma. Susima hated Chanakya as he always favoured Ashoka over him while mahamatya Khalatak was always jealous of him as Bindusara always favored Chanakya over him in the matters related to Magadha. So Helena joined Charumitra; Sushim and Khalatak. Siyamak also joined in this mission as he believed that his dear ones (Justin and Noor) had died due to Chanakya. They all killed Chanakya who in his last breathe tells Ashoka that the only way to serve his motherland is to become the Emperor of Magadha by any means. Ashoka believes that Chanakya did not die due to some mishap/accident but due to a conspiracy done by the enemies of Magadha. Thus; Ashoka takes a pledge to punish the culprits and fulfill Chanakya's last wish of becoming the Emperor of Magadha by any means. Meanwhile,to end the tyranny of Keechak, Ashok heads for Takshashila and after a lot of struggles, becomes successful. Also there,he meets Kalinga's Princess Kaurwaki, forms a unique bond of friendship, against Kaurwaki's father Jagganath's wishes. Later-on, Ashoka returns to Patliputra and in the meantime, found out that his own family members were involved in the death of Chanakya. But in the process of making the criminals punished for their sins, tables turned on him making Ashok attack on Bindusara and injuring Susima. So, in a fit of rage, Bindusara exiled him from Patliputra. For protection of her son, Dharma went with him and the duo left Patliputra and settled in Ujjain. That marked the end of the session

10 years later

A ruthless Ashoka in the name of Chand along with Dharma and his brother Vit have been settled in Ujjain in the house-hold of the merchant Dhanisharam who resides there with his daughter, Devi. In Kalinga, Kaurwaki’s only ambition of life is to meet Ashoka and makes many futile attempts for the same angering Jagannath. Bindusara has grown more cruel and harsh within these years while with the help of black magic, Charumitra had made Susima stronger than ever. After some days, in a wrestling match, in which Ashoka and Susima are fighting, Dharma comes with Vit and stops the fight. Everyone recognizes them. Bindusara forgives them and asks them to return to Patliputra. Dharma and Vit return to Patliputra. Ashoka did not follow Bindusara's orders. He roams in a jungle and meets Kaurvaki. In these years, Dharma too has turned clever and bold enough to face internal politics. Ashoka sees Devi and her father being tortured by Nirankush and his men and saves them but fails to capture Nirankush. Ashoka returns to Patliputra and reveals to Bindusara that slavery was in practice in these 10 years. He also reveals that a man named Kondna is behind this. One night, Siamak secretly goes to meet Kondna. It is revealed that Kondna is none other than Helena. Ashoka sets out to capture kondna using Nirankush. Ashoka fails to capture kondna and Nirankush escapes. However he got a clue that kondna is a woman. Ashoka got clue from Nirankush that the woman's name starts from 'H'. He finds that kondna is late Helena. Nobody believes it. Ashoka is sure that kondna is Helena . He sets out to capture her and bring her in front of everyone. Ashoka, with Lasandra (Helena's enemy) manages to expose Helena and forces Siamak to kill her. Later, the marriage preparations of Ashoka and Kaurwaki begin. Just then, Dharma and Devi meet an astrologer and he says that this marriage is full of obstacles and many innocent people will be killed in the Kalinga war. Due to fear, Dharma decides that Ashoka should marry Devi, instead of Kaurwaki. Jagannath tells Bindusar that Ashok can marry Kaurwaki only when Bindusar gives the throne of Magadh to him after the marriage. Bindusar agrees. At the time of marriage Ashoka comes to know about this and breaks the marriage with Kaurwaki and in a fit of rage injures Jagannath with a dagger. Ashoka instead, marries Devi.Siamak goes to Takshashela as govenor and calls in unani guards.Ashoka kills Siyamak and returns to Patliputra.Susima has control over Bindusara,and Jagannath accuses Ashoka for killing Kaurwaki,Devi gets Kaurwaki and saves Ashoka.After Bindusara's death Susima and Ashoka fight,but Susima jumps into a flaming pit.Ashoka is crowned Magadha Samrat Ashoka Maurya. the Kalinga war ends the series.

Cast

Production and promotion

The set was erected in Karjat. The show was produced by Contiloe Entertainment.^[44] A team of at least 500 people worked on the series. Episodes were shot across Jaisalmer, Kerala, Mumbai's Film City and Karjat. A battle of Buzkashi ("goat dragging" sport) on horses was also recreated.^[3] A lightman died on the set in April 2015.^[45]

Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat was promoted on the comedy show Comedy Nights with Kapil on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri in February 2015 ^[46] A game app "Ashoka:The Game" was launched by Colors TV in April 2015.^[47][48]

Awards

Critical reception

The Times of India praised Ashok Banker's reconstruction filled historical gaps and stated that they provide "interesting fictional turns" for the show.^[56]

Bollywood Life reviewer, Letty Mariam Abraham, gave the show 3 out of 5 stars; praising the sets, visual effects and production value of the show. She further heaped praise on child prodigy Siddharth Nigam as "undoubtedly a brilliant actor"; stating that "his agile body makes him the perfect actor for the role." Abraham gave her final verdict as "the show looks promising but has a lot of scope for improvement. I’d recommend that people watch this historical drama for Siddharth Nigam and the special effects of the show."^[57]

India.com reviewer, Prathamesh Jadhav, stated "going by the opening episode we must confess that this elaborate drama looks rather promising with its interesting tale." He further stated, "What we liked though is the visuals and the diligence that has been put in by the special effects and VFX team. The work is seriously commendable." He gave his final verdict as "going by what we have seen [in] it one must admit that the show looks promising with its actors, its sets and the details that have gone into making a tele-series of this nature."^[58]

International broadcast

• In Cambodia, it airs under the title ព្រះបាទអសោក on Cambodian Television Network.^[59]
• In Indonesia, it began airing under the title, Ashoka on May 11, 2015 on antv.^[60]
• In Sri Lanka, it airs under the title, Adiraja Dharmashoka on TV Derana.^[61]

See also

• Chandragupta Maurya (TV series)
• Chanakya (TV series)
• Bharatvarsh (TV Series)

References

External links

• Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat at the Internet Movie Database
• Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat on Facebook