Why you can trust GamesRadar+
The Terrorist director Santosh Sivan uses two of Bollywood's biggest young stars, Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, for this lavish biopic of the legendary Emperor Asoka, a warrior leader who renounced violence and converted to Buddhism.
Popular Hindu films invariably privilege emotion and spectacle above complex characterisations, and Asoka continues this tradition. The incident-packed narrative begins with our dashing hero (Khan) leaving the royal city of Magadh to travel around his kingdom incognito. He meets, woos and tutors the beautiful Princess Kaurwaki (Kapoor), but the lovers find themselves on opposing sides in a war between rival states.
Asoka resembles Braveheart in its blend of a sweeping love story, dynastic intrigues and bloody battles. Yet amid the song-and-dance numbers and choreographed swordplay, the best sequence is the attempted assassination of a bathing Asoka where acute editing and bold compositions combine to striking effect.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
Stellar Blade players ask for help containing spoilers as copies of the upcoming game start arriving more than two days before launch
One of the most iconic moments in Spider-Man's 60 year history is rewritten in Ultimate Spider-Man #4
Fallout: New Vegas director thought 2003 studio closure that took down the original Fallout 3 and Baldur's Gate 3 teams meant he'd never get to work on the RPG series again