Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat

Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat (English: "The Great Emperor Ashoka") is a 2015 Indian historical drama serial that aired on Colors TV from 2 February 2015 to 7 October 2016. The show was created and written by author and screenwriter Faizan Mohammad. It stars Mohit Raina as Ashoka with Siddharth Nigam portraying the young version of the character.
"Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat" was based on the life of King Ashoka (304–232 BCE), the third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India. The serial tells the story of how he faced the problems outside and inside Magadha, eventually rising to become its ruler. The historical drama was produced by Contiloe Entertainment and directed by Prasad Gavandi. The show premiered on 2 February 2015 with a 1-hour telecast duration for the first 20 episodes. The serial ended on 7 October 2016.
Plot.
This series starts when Magadha is ruled by King Bindusara Maurya. Bindusara's step-mother, Helena conspires against him. Helena's men attack Bindusara, but he is rescued by a Brahmin woman named Dharma. Bindusara is amazed at her skills, and later marries her. Dharma then conceives a child. Bindusara later asks Dharma to accompany him to the royal palace, however, she insists on living in the forest and prefers a simple lifestyle. Bindusara takes leave of her while promising to return and take their child to Magadha after it is born. Meanwhile, Noor, Bindusara's third queen, and her father, Mir Khorasan, seek to assasinate Dharma. Mir attacks Dharma and kills her father. He then sets her hut on fire. Bindusara assumes Dharma to be dead, but Dharma survives and gives birth to a son and names him Ashoka.
14 years later.
Ashoka is a young boy who lives with his mother in a hamlet. Chanakya spots Ashoka on the streets of Magadha and gets to know about his true identity, but promises Dharma to keep it a secret from Ashoka and Bindusara. Chanakya, along with his disciple Radhagupta takes them to Pataliputra and Dharma becomes a maid to Bindusara's queen. Ashoka starts by working as a horsekeeper and on numerous occasions, he impresses Bindusara and they both develop a bond, which is despised by Bindusara's eldest son Sushima, his mother Charumitra, Mir Khorasan, Helena and, her son Justin. Sushima and Ashoka are always at loggerheads and Sushima conspires against Ashoka many times, but every time, Ashoka manages to escape. One day, Dharma is attacked by some men, who succeed in killing her on her way to the forest, and everyone believes it to be the work of a tiger. Ashoka is devastated by this incident but Bindusara consoles him, and spends time with him. It is later revealed that Dharma is still alive as Chanakya saw the attack coming and therefore replaced Dharma with one of his spies. On Chanakya's suggestion, Bindusara admits Ashoka to the royal school of Magadha. Ashoka has a hard time initially and is harassed by Sushima and his associates, but is comforted by Bindusara's third son Siyamak and Acharya Akramak - the martial arts instructor. Akramak trains Ashoka in warfare and Ashoka then decides to take part in the annual competition of 'Magadha's best warrior.' After overcoming all odds and injustice and after an intense, elaborate competition with Sushima and the other children at the royal school of Magadha, Ashoka emerges victorious. He is however tricked into believing that Sushima is being attacked by a tiger and rushes to save him, only to be cheated by Sushima who steals the sword of Chandragupta Maurya which the winner is supposed to take to the finish line. Ashoka is heartbroken and dejected but Bindusara is still impressed by his performance. Bindusara, after seeing Sushima's victory, decides to make him the crown prince. Ashoka confides in Chanakya and Chanakya stops Sushima's coronation at the last minute. Chanakya strips Sushima of his sword after the latter insults and tries to kill him. Ashoka is then united with Dharma, who consoles him.
The house of wax.
Meanwhile, Helena, with her father Seleucus Nicator and the king of Ujjain hatch a plot to kill off Bindusara's family. Their chosen method is to burn down a wax house with their victims inside, during Justin's wedding with the princess of Ujjain. Chanakya realises the conspiracy but gets kidnapped. Ashoka then finds a secret tunnel and after entering it, reaches the wax house and saves Chanakya. After learning about the conspiracy, he uses his sharp mind and strength to defeat the enemy's attack and creates a safe pathway for the royal family till they reach the tunnel used by the enemy to escape, thus, saving the royal family. As a reward for Ashoka's strength, bravery, and presence of mind, Bindusara awards him the sword of Chandragupta Maurya and appoints him as his personal bodyguard. He catches the king of Ujjain and presents him before Bindusara, who decrees the death penalty but Justin in order to save his mother sacrifices his life and it is later on revealed that Siyamak (grandson of Mir Khorasan) is Justin and Noor's son.
Ashoka eventually learns about his birth and true father, from an astrologer in his birthplace. With the help of Chanakya, he devises a plan to expose Mir Khorasan who had tried to kill Dharma earlier, and reveal the truth to Bindusara. They succeed, and Mir Khorasan is arrested. Bindusara accepts Dharma and Ashoka, and they start living happily.
Sushima's Regency.
Bindusara and Chanakya decide to test the princes by engaging them in intense political debate. Ashoka who has no experience in the field still impresses everyone with his answers but eventually loses to Sushima. Since Bindusara has to go on an important conquest, he makes Sushima the regent in his absence. Sushima, along with his mother Charumitra is brutal in his ways and flips the kingdom upside down, tortures his subjects and, mercilessly harasses his fiancée and his former love interest Ahenkara (princess of Ujjain). He also brutally mistreats and torments Ashoka and Dharma. To put an end to his tyranny, Ashoka dresses up as a warrior Agradhoot and secretly protects the people. Sushima finds out Agradhoot's true identity and uses Agradhoot's lookalike to taint Ashoka's image in front of the public. A drunk Sushima one day harasses Ahenkara both mentally and physically, nearly killing her brother for his refusal to accept his proposal for marriage to her. However, her brother is saved by Agradhoot. Sushima and Agradhoot engage in a fierce battle but Sushima is severely wounded in the process and falls unconscious. He suddenly wakes up and charges at Agradhoot from behind but Ahenkara, To save Agradhoot accidentally shoves a dagger through Sushima's stomach and wounds him. Bindusara just arrives and sees this, but Ashoka takes the blame to protect Ahenkara and gets arrested. Chanakya realises the truth and arrives in time to give justice to both Ashoka and Ahenkara. Ahenkara's marriage with Sushima is called off. Sushima is treated by Dharma who saves his life.
Meanwhile, Noor escapes from the palace and goes to her ex-lover Daastan, a Khorasani warrior. The duo invades Magadha and holds the royal family as their prisoners. Just as Noor is about to kill Dharma, Ashoka arrives and defeats Daastan and accidentally kills Noor, leaving Siyamak dejected. Daastan gets imprisoned but escapes with Mir Khorasan. Chanakya finds out about the incidents that took place and then blackmail Sushima and Charumitra, threatening to expose everything they did in Bindusara's absence if they refused to stop harassing Ashoka's family.
Death of Chanakya.
At this time, all the enemies of Ashoka including Sushima, his mother, Helena, Siyamak (who wants to avenge his mother) and, a minister Khallatak - who all want the throne badly decide to team up to kill Chanakya, in an abandoned house and frame Daastan for his death. Ashoka is emotionally shattered and vows to catch the murderers and slay them. He finds Daastan and kills him but a dying Daastan reveals that he had nothing to do with Chanakya's killing and the true culprits are still roaming freely. After performing Chanakya's last rites, Ashoka is sent to Takshashila to suppress a massive revolt and tyranny of Kichak - a former warrior in the Magadha army who had betrayed Bindusara and Chanakya. Kichak has now built a huge army and after capturing Takshashila, tortures the people and mercilessly kills them. He has plans to attack Magadha and become the emperor.
After a long period of struggles and sacrifices, Ashoka emerges victorious, slays Kichak publicly, and frees Takshashila from Kichak's tyranny. In the process, he falls in love with Kaurwaki - the princess of Kalinga who accompanies him in his mission to free her father Jagannath who was Kichak's prisoner.
On his arrival in Pataliputra, Ashoka has declared the heir to Bindusara's throne, much to the dismay of Sushima. Together with his mother, using black magic, Sushima destroys Dharma and Ashoka's relationship with Bindusara. And subsequently, an invasion of Pataliputra is carried out by Mir Khorasan and Selucus Nicator with the help of Helena. They capture the palace of Bindusara and hold him captive. But again, Ashoka uses his quick thinking and powers to rescue Bindusara and defeat Mir Khorasan and Seleucus Nicator. An angry Sushima murders them before Ashoka can present them to Bindusara. Sushima thus steals credit for the victory and impresses everyone. Selucus Nicator's daughter Helena is arrested.
One day, while in prison Helena reveals to Ashoka the murderers of Chanakya and fakes a suicide. Ashoka, in a fit of rage, goes on a killing spree and stabs Sushima in front of Bindusara. He proceeds to kill everyone involved in Chanakya's killing but is chained heavily and thrown behind bars. Bindusara is extremely disgusted by Ashoka's actions and decides to abandon him. Ashoka is banished. Dharma and her newborn son Vitashoka (Vit) accompany him to Ujjain and Ashoka vows to come back stronger and avenge Chanakya's death.
10 years later.
Ashoka, now known as Chand, has become a ruthless, angry man who just wants revenge. Ashoka lives with Dharma and his younger brother, Vitashoka (Vit) in the house of a merchant named Dhaniram. Dhaniram's daughter, Devi cares so much about them. Over time, Sushima becomes stronger with the help of the black magic of Charumitra. Siamak has grown into a cool-headed man but thirsts for the death of Ashoka. Ashoka learns that Sushima is taking part in a local wrestling contest and decides to take part in it. He fights as Chand, hoping for a chance to kill Sushima. Dharma and Vit come there and stop Ashok. Bindusara recognises them, forgives Ashoka, and asks him to come back to Pataliputra.
Soon, Ashoka finds out that illegal slavery has been prevailing in Pataliputra for the last 10 years under the leadership of a mysterious person named Kondana. Ashoka and Radhagupta decide to solve this puzzle and after a hard search and via some of his acquaintances and rivals from Ujjain, they find that Kondana's actual name starts from the letter 'H'. It is then revealed that Kondana is none other than Helena, who is still alive. Ashoka does not have any proof of this fact and is initially ridiculed by everyone. He, along with one of his former acquaintances named Lasandra, come up with an elaborate master plan to expose Kondana. They succeed and Helena is exposed in the royal court and Siamak is tricked into killing her.
Bindusara decides to get his sons married and invites many princesses, including Kaurwaki. After an elaborate sequence of events, Sushima is married to princess Chanda, and Ashoka is supposed to get married to Karuvaki. But, Jagannath who strongly disapproves of their relationship, insults Bindusara and Dharma publicly and asks them to give him the throne of Magadha if Ashoka marries Karuvaki. Ashoka is angered by this and breaks off his marriage with Karuvaki, marrying Devi instead. But, Sushima and Siamak kill Dharma that night, leaving Ashoka shocked. But, Ashoka finds a piece of a necklace that supposedly belongs to Siamak while gathering Dharma's ashes. Ashoka enters Taxila and kills Siamak, believing he is Dharma's sole murderer. In this process, Jaganath throws Karuvaki who comes to save Ashoka, to a waterfall and blames Ashoka. Ashoka saves Karuvaki, who is in a coma. Charumitra comes to kill Karuvaki, but Karuvaki regains consciousness in time and hides, covering Charumitra on the bed. Sushima kills Charumitra thinking her to be Karuvaki.Khallatak then teams up with Ashoka and reveals to him the only way in which Sushima can be killed. Ashoka then challenges Sushima and both of them engage in a fierce duel. However, Ashoka tricks Sushima into a pit containing lava and kills him. Ashoka is thus crowned as the third emperor of Magadha while Devi and Karuvaki are crowned as his Queens. Devi gives birth to their son who is named Mahinda.
Conversion to Buddhism.
Ashoka then decides to capture Kalinga and wages war against them. He eventually succeeds in capturing Kalinga but in the process, draws a massive amount of bloodshed, killing millions of people. This incident leaves him traumatized at the waste of human lives. He later on, decides to give up violence and embraces Buddhism. With the help of his children and ministers, he propagates the principles of Buddhism around the world for the welfare of mankind and earns the title of "Ashoka the Great", also fulfilling Chanakya's dream of Akhanda Bharath (United India).
Production and promotion.
The set was erected in Karjat. The show was produced by Contiloe Entertainment. A team of at least 500 people worked on the series. Episodes were shot across Jaisalmer, Kerala, Mumbai's Film City and Karjat. A lightman died on the set in April 2015.
"Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat "was promoted on the comedy show Comedy Nights with Kapil on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri in February 2015 A game app "Ashoka:The Game" was launched by Colors TV in April 2015.
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.
"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."
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."
Additionally it has been known to imitate its style and fictional characters from Game of Thrones.