Asoka (Devanagari: अशोक,Urdu: اشوک) is a 2001 Bollywood film, a historical drama. It is a largely fictional version of the life of the Indian emperor Ashoka, of the Maurya dynasty, who ruled much of South Asia from 273 BCE to 232 BCE. The film was directed by Santosh Sivan and stars Shahrukh Khan as Ashoka and Kareena Kapoor as Kaurwaki, a princess of Kalinga. Tamil star Ajith made a special appearance as Susima, brother of Asoka.

The screenplay was written by Santosh Sivan and Saket Chaudhary and the dialogue by Abbas Tyrewala. It was originally released as Ashoka The Great in India. The Tamil release title is Samrat Ashoka. The film was produced by Shahrukh Khan's production company Dreamz Unlimited.

Prince Ashoke (Shahrukh Khan), heir to the Magadha Kingdom, bowing to his mother's (Shilpa Mehta) demand forsakes his princely status and goes to live in the wild for awhile. There he meets and falls in love with Kaurwaki (Kareena Kapoor). He identifies himself as Pawan, not wanting to disclose his identity yet. Ashoke has to return to Magadha, but when he returns to find and wed Kaurwaki, he is told by Bheema (Rahul Dev) that Kaurwaki and her brother Arya have been killed. Devastated Ashoke returns home. On the way home he is attacked and Devi (Hrishitaa Bhatt), of the Buddhist faith rescues him and tends to him till he gets well. As a result, Devi's marriage to her groom is cancelled. Ashoke weds her and brings her to Magadha, only to be told by his father that since Devi is not of the same race as he, she cannot be welcomed. Ashoke leaves with Devi and lives in Ujjaini. Soon Devi gets pregnant, and this arouses jealously and hatred amongst Ashoke's step-brothers. As a result they plot to kill Devi, however, their plans are foiled by Ashoke's mother, who is killed. Ashoke swears to avenge his mother's death by killing his step-brothers one by one, except for one, who has led to Kalinga. Ashoke asks the ruler of Kalings to turn over his step-brother to him, and they refuse. Ashoke swears to raze Kalinga to the ground. Ashoke is unstoppable. Even his close friend, Virat (Danny Denzongpa), too, is unable to stop Ashoke. Ashoke proceeds to war, little knowing that the queen of Kalinga is none other than Kaurwaki, who is still alive. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

In India, about 260 BC in the Empire of Magadha, the Prince Asoka (Shah Rukh Khan) survives to many betrayals of his brothers, leaded by the evil Susima (Ajit Kumar), who wants to kill him to inherit the throne. His mothers orders Asoka to leave Magadha, and while traveling, he meets Princess Kaurwaki (Karriena Kapoor) and her brother, Prince Aryan (Sooraj Balaji) from Kalinga, who are undercover and protected by General Bheema (Rahul Dev). Asoka and Kaurwaki falls in love for each other, but the mother of Asoka calls him back to Magadha. When he returns, he does not find Kaurwaki, who was attacked by traitors of Kalinga. When Asoka's mother is killed by a man of Susima, Asoka becomes mad, kills all his evil brothers but Sugatra, who escapes to Kalinga. Asoka decides to conquer Kalinga, but in the end, he concludes that he has not built an empire, but conquered only corpses and destroyed everything, and he decides to spread love and the Buddhism. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil