Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat
Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat 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 Ashok while Siddharth Nigam portrayed the young version of the character.
Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat was based on the life of King Ashoka, the third emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India. How he faced the problems outside and inside Magadha and then become ruler of Magadha. 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. The serial ended on 7 October 2016.
Cast
Main cast
- Mohit Raina as Chakravartin Samrat Ashoka Maurya: Third Mauryan Emperor; Bindusara and Head Queen Dharma's first son; Vitashoka's elder brother; Devi and Karuvaki's husband; Mahinda, Tivala and Sanghamitta's father.
- *Siddharth Nigam as Young Prince Ashoka aka Vanaraj.
- Kajol Shrivastav as Empress Devi: Dhaniram's daughter, Ashoka's first wife; Mahinda and Sanghamitta's mother.
- Soumya Seth as Queen Karuvaki: Jagnnath and Vasudha's daughter; Ashoka's second wife; Tivala's mother.
- *Reem Sheikh as Young Princess Karuvaki.
- Pallavi Subhash as Head Queen Dharma / Shubhadrangi: Samrat Bindusara's beloved second wife; Ashoka and Vitashoka's mother.
- Manoj Joshi as Acharya Chanakya: Guru of Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara and Ashoka.
- Ankit Arora as Yuvraj Susima : Bindusara and Charumitra's eldest son; Chanda's husband.
- *Sumedh Mudgalkar as Young Shushim: Bindusara and Charumitra's son; Ahankara's ex-suitor; Ashoka's half-brother; Dharma's step-son.
Recurring
- Arhaan Behl as Chandragupt Maurya : Durdhara and Helena's husband; Justin and Bindusara's father.
- Suzanne Bernert as Rajmata Helena Maurya / Kondana: Chandragupta Maurya's second wife, Justin's mother and Seleucus I Nicator's daughter.
- Raj Routh as Magdha
- Sameer Dharmadhikari as Samrat Bindusara Maurya: Chandragupta Maurya and Durdhara's son; Charumitra, Dharma, Noor and Subrasi's husband; Susima, Ashoka, Dhrupad and Vitashoka's father; Siamak's adopted father.
- Dev Singhal as:
- * Prince Vitashoka aka Vit: Ashoka's younger brother; Samrat Bindusara and Queen Dharma's second son.
- * Young Prince Justin
- Prinal Oberoi as Empress Charumitra: Bindusara's first wife; Susima's mother.
- Preet Kaur Madhan as Queen Subrasi: Bindusara's fourth wife and Dhrupad's mother.
- Ayaan Zubair Rahmani as Rajkumar Dhrupad Maurya: Samrat Bindusara and Subrasi's son.
- Sumit Kaul as Prince Justin: Chandragupta Maurya and Helena's son; Noor's secret husband; Siayamak's biological father; Bindusara's half-brother.
- Ankita Sharma as Queen Noor: Justin's secret wife; Siayamak's mother; Bindusara's third wife.
- Abhiram Nain as Prince Siamak: Justin and Noor's biological son who officially recognised as Bindusara's son
- * MD Faizan Khan as Young Prince
- Heena Parmar as Princess Chanda: Prince Susima's wife
- Alefia Kapadia as Rani Vasudha: Queen of Kalinga, Jagannath's wife and Karuvaki's mother.
- Yashashri Masurkar as Princess Agnishikha: Shaktiraaj's daughter, Ahankara's cousin sister; Justin's ex suitor.
- Tapasya Nayak Srivastava as Queen Niharika: Queen of Ujjain, Rajajiraj's wife; Ahankara's mother.
- Tunisha Sharma as Rajkumari Ahankara: A Ujjani princess; Niharika and Rajajiraj's daughter; Susima's ex suitor; Ashoka's friend.
- Tej Sapru as Seleucus I Nicator: Helena's father; Justin's maternal grandfather; Siamak's great-grandfather.
- Vikrant Chaturvedi as Senapati Mir Khorasan: Noor's father; Siayamak's maternal grandfather.
- Manoj Kolhatkar as Amatya Khallatak: Susima's supportive minister but later on becomes Ashoka's minister.
- Dakssh Ajit Singh as Mahaamatya Radhagupt: Ashoka's Prime Minister; Chanakya's grandson.
- * Jitendra Bohra as Young Radhagupt.
- Sachin Verma as Acharya Akramak: Ashoka's guru in Royal Academy.
- Rajesh Khera as Acharya Devavrath: Ashoka's guru in Taxila.
- Shailesh Dattar as Amatya Ugarsain: A minister who supported Justin and Helena but later killed by a spy of Helena and Justin.
- Amit Behl as Amatya Rakshas: He helps Helena first to make Justin sit on the throne then he use Keechak to kill Mauryas and to make Siayamak the new Samrat.
- sonal Parihar as Nirjhara: Ishwari's sister and Chanakya's spy who presented in court instead of Rani Dharma.
- Parveen Kaur as Kasturi: Chanakya's spy and Dharma's friend.
- KK Goswami as Varahmir: He helps Helena and Rajajiraj making Lakshagraha. He is killed by Justin.
- Rumi Khan as Daastan: Noor's ex lover and ex suitor. Noor joins hands with him to make Siayamak sit on throne. He is killed by Ashoka.
- Harsh Khurana as Uttar: Kondana's right hand. He commits suicide.
- Sudhanshu Pandey as Raja Keechak: Vasantsena's brother, Sudama's son and Bahamani's husband and a ruthless ruler of Taxila who is killed by Ashoka.
- Monica Sehgal as Rani Bahamani: Keechak's wife later ruler of Taxila.
- Anand Goradia as Agnibahu: Keechak's treasurer.
Production and promotion
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.
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.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 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.
International broadcast
- In Myanmar, it airs under the title "ဘုန်းမီးနေလ မဟာအသောက" on 5 plus.
- In Cambodia, it airs under the title ព្រះបាទអសោក on Cambodian Television Network.
- In Indonesia, it began airing under the title, Ashoka on 11 May 2015 on antv.
- In Sri Lanka, it airs under the title, Adiraja Dharmashoka on TV Derana.
- in Thailand, it airs under the title, อโศกมหาราช on Channel 3 Family
- in Vietnam it airs under the title, Ashoka Đại Đế on THVL1 at 12h00 trưa
- in India the Kannada version airs under the title, Chakravarthy Ashoka on Colors Kannada and the Tamil version airs under the title, Chakravarthy Ashokar on Colors Tamil.
- in Ghana under the title Ashoka Samrat on Joy Prime.