Pracchand Ashok - Episode Discussion Thread #1 - Page 53

Originally posted by: Yashikha16

Those 3 questions I bold, I think they're somewhat letting us assume the reasons which are as follows:

Helen hating Ashok or Dharma: A foreign bride will support another foreign bride (Diana) and her son (Sushima) and be against the native bride/wife (Dharma) and her children (Ashok, etc).

Lol, 🤣 when we see Helena's history and her true character, she would give a damn about who would succeed Bindusara. She cared for her own kids and their safety. Surprisingly her children are not shown in the show, not even her eldest son who was a closest to Bindusara. This son was named Justin in Chakravartin Ashok Samrat but Justin is a Latin name, not historically accurate and as expected he was also made negative in that show. Dude he was a toddler when Bindusara was 18+ and in that show he was made eldest son 😂

Helena supporting Diana has no strong motive in the show so far and it seems they are hating Ashok just for the sake of hating. Pathetic

Chanakya not telling the truth to Bindusar: When Ashok was lifting the sword from the river, when a child, he saw the determination Ashok had and preferred to let destiny take its course that is Ashok becoming an Emperor of Akhand Bharat.

Karuwaki hates Ashok before meeting him: She being a Mahatma Gandhi before the time of the actual Mohandas Karamchan Gandhi (the village I live here in Mauritius, we have a Gandhi square with the statue of Gandhi by the way, just thought of telling; Google Maps, Rivière du Rempart), a non-violence person still outside of Buddhism (like really, there's no trace of Buddhism in the show), and she hates violent, non-empathic, non-loving people thus hating Ashok from just hearing his story of wars and fights. Plus, Kaling and Magadh or Patliputra were enemy states at that time.

Anyway, it's all based on assumptions and deductions, which, of course says that the story telling, narration or introduction was already bad enough. It's like an essay, if the introduction isn't good, then imagine how bad it's going to be.

And for me personally, all those grand sets, teasers and promotions, despite being "grand" and over the top, gave me a fear that the show might not work. It happens for Bollywood movies and had a doubt it might be the same for shows. That seemed different for Katha Ankahee though, the only exception to the rule till now. That's why I love it and was fearful of Adnan going to the drain with this show of A Shock.

Originally posted by: Yashikha16

Those 3 questions I bold, I think they're somewhat letting us assume the reasons which are as follows:

Helen hating Ashok or Dharma: A foreign bride will support another foreign bride (Diana) and her son (Sushima) and be against the native bride/wife (Dharma) and her children (Ashok, etc).

Chanakya not telling the truth to Bindusar: When Ashok was lifting the sword from the river, when a child, he saw the determination Ashok had and preferred to let destiny take its course that is Ashok becoming an Emperor of Akhand Bharat.

Karuwaki hates Ashok before meeting him: She being a Mahatma Gandhi before the time of the actual Mohandas Karamchan Gandhi (the village I live here in Mauritius, we have a Gandhi square with the statue of Gandhi by the way, just thought of telling; Google Maps, Rivière du Rempart), a non-violence person still outside of Buddhism (like really, there's no trace of Buddhism in the show), and she hates violent, non-empathic, non-loving people thus hating Ashok from just hearing his story of wars and fights. Plus, Kaling and Magadh or Patliputra were enemy states at that time.

Anyway, it's all based on assumptions and deductions, which, of course says that the story telling, narration or introduction was already bad enough. It's like an essay, if the introduction isn't good, then imagine how bad it's going to be.

And for me personally, all those grand sets, teasers and promotions, despite being "grand" and over the top, gave me a fear that the show might not work. It happens for Bollywood movies and had a doubt it might be the same for shows. That seemed different for Katha Ankahee though, the only exception to the rule till now. That's why I love it and was fearful of Adnan going to the drain with this show of A Shock.

KA dint have grand sets or extensive promotion. They had good writing, direction, editing, bgm and actors which made it a well made show

Adnan needs to get a grip on his expressions and body language which is going OTT in almost every aggressive scene. He needs to tone down and not push too hard. Even comedy scenes look forced sometimes, trying too hard to show Ashok is cool and has that swag. Not sure, if he sees his scenes after performing like many actors do , if not then he should start doing it to understand how it actually looks onscreen.

Originally posted by: NostalgiaLove

Yup all these points are really responsible for failure of the show and also they haven't done any research on history and adding Bollywood songs to the show and laziness of not producing real music shows lackluster approach of the makers towards the project. I disagree with the point of Rakshanda being cast. Rakshanda is looking fabulous as Helena, one of the best castings for Helena so far. Her features easily makes her believable as Greek-persian lady. Chetan is doing good job but as Bindusara we expected to see someone else. Chetan is actually good for real Ashoka, no offense but Chetan's skin is quite coarse and it would go well with Ashoka's original description.

Yug Puran mentions Yavanas as Grim faced, Valiant and Cunning.

@blue I didn't pay attention to that as I somehow focused on the bigger points and completely forgot about the background sounds as I don't really watch it. Couldn't bring myself to watch it today tbh.

@pink She is and her eyes give her the Persian-Greek look. Her dresses could have been more historically accurate like in Porus, but they're nice nevertheless. I haven't really watched her here as Helena nor any other Helenas. Watched her only on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi though.

@Green I didn't pay that much attention to him to be honest. Also, being coarse wasn't limited to Ashoka's face only but to his entire body, unfortunately. And as we know, it would be difficult to find such an actor and this would have been more of a subject of controversy and could have affected public sensitivity too, but Chetan would have worked. The age gap with Mallika or any future queen such as Asandhimitra or Tishyaraksha would also feel real and more historically accurate.

@Yellow: "Grim faced", seems like they have the sun but still having the face as if facing a real European Winter Depression (don't remind me of the Winter Depression I had back in Germany. Those felt lonely AF! If you have friends in those countries having harsh winter, check on them.)

Originally posted by: chabalas

KA dint have grand sets or extensive promotion. They had good writing, direction, editing, bgm and actors which made it a well made show

Adnan needs to get a grip on his expressions and body language which is going OTT in almost every aggressive scene. He needs to tone down and not push too hard. Even comedy scenes look forced sometimes, trying too hard to show Ashok is cool and has that swag. Not sure, if he sees his scenes after performing like many actors do , if not then he should start doing it to understand how it actually looks onscreen.

Even if he doesn't, does the director or editor or production team or whomever responsible for making those shows, not tell him to look at it or improve upon his acting and expressions?

@Red: Truth

@Green: What actually needs to be done.

Originally posted by: Yashikha16

Colored Text

@blue I didn't pay attention to that as I somehow focused on the bigger points and completely forgot about the background sounds as I don't really watch it. Couldn't bring myself to watch it today tbh.

Ok

@pink She is and her eyes give her the Persian-Greek look. Her dresses could have been more historically accurate like in Porus, but they're nice nevertheless. I haven't really watched her here as Helena nor any other Helenas. Watched her only on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi though.

None of the previous Helena's were accurate, they all were made blonde and evil, both she wasn't, she isn't recorded as evil woman and if she were contemporary sources would have mentioned it like Tisyarakshita

@Green I didn't pay that much attention to him to be honest. Also, being coarse wasn't limited to Ashoka's face only but to his entire body, unfortunately. And as we know, it would be difficult to find such an actor and this would have been more of a subject of controversy and could have affected public sensitivity too, but Chetan would have worked. The age gap with Mallika or any future queen such as Asandhimitra or Tishyaraksha would also feel real and more historically accurate.

Chetan as Ashok and Mallika as Tisyarakshita, wow what a casting but ITV isn't bold enough to accept it nor are the dumb audiences, they would immediately start boycotting Ekta without fact checking that Ashok was even older than Chetan when he made relationship with Tisyarakshita. 😕 Audiences unfortunately are not mature enough to accept the tragic nuances which were considered normal back then. Seleucus Himself was 60+ when he married 15+ old Stratonice and then gave her to his son who was dying from passion for his step mother. Yeah 🤢

Poor Ashok suffered from diseases but that's not excuse for Bindusara to act so cruelly towards him 😕

I also don't understand why didn't they bring his half sisters but made a biological fictional sister. Ashok had no biological sister, after birth of Vittashoka Bindusara stopped visiting Dharma. He sent her to Ujjain with Ashoka.

Originally posted by: NostalgiaLove

Seleucus Himself was 60+ when he married 15+ old Stratonice and then gave her to his son who was dying from passion for his step mother. Yeah 🤢

My reaction to your post was solely for this particular line!!!

About the casting of Mallika and Chetan as Kaurwaki and Ashok, would it have worked though? Well, Iqbal Khan made a show like this just last year about age gap, "Naa Umra Ki Seema Ho", but I don't know how it went.

Unfortunately, the audience is already going through a grim life as it is in this Kalyug, they just want to see something happy and uplifting, thus they would protest if an accurate portrayal of Ashok were to be shown.

Originally posted by: Yashikha16

My reaction to your post was solely for this particular line!!!

This story is quite something. Seleucus defeated Demetrius and then married his young daughter Stratonice (obviously he was forced to surrender his daughter to Seleucus just like how Seleucus was forced to surrender his daughter to Chandragupta) who married Seleucus who was 60+ man (yup chaitraj and Karuwaki in nutshell only Seleucus was a fit man not limping like daddu). They had a daughter named Phila. Antiochus, Seleucus' son from Apama (Helena's brother) fell fatally ill due to his passion for Stratonice but he didn't want to betray his father. When Seleucus got to know of this to save Antiochus' life he gave Stratonice to Antiochus after divorcing her. He made them King and Queen of Syria. This is the same Antiochus who was good friend of Bindusara whom many are speculating Diana is daughter of 😂🤣

Chandragupta gifted aphrodisiacs to Seleucus (obviously Seleucus would have demanded it otherwise why would he send it to his father in law 😒😕🙄😂)

About the casting of Mallika and Chetan as Kaurwaki and Ashok, would it have worked though? Well, Iqbal Khan made a show like this just last year about age gap, "Naa Umra Ki Seema Ho", but I don't know how it went.

Ashok was 70+ man when he made Tisyarakshita his concubine and later made her Agramahishi. Na Umar ki seema ho couple didn't have this much age gap. Audiences won't accept it.

Unfortunately, the audience is already going through a grim life as it is in this Kalyug, they just want to see something happy and uplifting, thus they would protest if an accurate portrayal of Ashok were to be shown.

Bingo, accurate portrayal of Ashok would hurt many and therefore no one dares to do that. Also no one likes an ugly hero (unfortunately). Looks shouldn't matter but sadly it does for many. Many are not able to accept Adnan and he's not even ugly. 😕

https://youtube.com/shorts/XG9XK1EMlyg?si=P5Xex7-agyzBmMLy

Felt really bad for Karu here but this hrist pusht line made it funny and diluted any emotion of disgust and anger and turned it into laughter 😮😂🤣

They are taking interview of Devi, Chetan, Vishkanya but not Main leads. 😂🤣 Karushok muh chupate fir rahe hai for signing this show

Originally posted by: Yashikha16

@blue I didn't pay attention to that as I somehow focused on the bigger points and completely forgot about the background sounds as I don't really watch it. Couldn't bring myself to watch it today tbh.

@pink She is and her eyes give her the Persian-Greek look. Her dresses could have been more historically accurate like in Porus, but they're nice nevertheless. I haven't really watched her here as Helena nor any other Helenas. Watched her only on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi though.

@Green I didn't pay that much attention to him to be honest. Also, being coarse wasn't limited to Ashoka's face only but to his entire body, unfortunately. And as we know, it would be difficult to find such an actor and this would have been more of a subject of controversy and could have affected public sensitivity too, but Chetan would have worked. The age gap with Mallika or any future queen such as Asandhimitra or Tishyaraksha would also feel real and more historically accurate.

@Yellow: "Grim faced", seems like they have the sun but still having the face as if facing a real European Winter Depression (don't remind me of the Winter Depression I had back in Germany. Those felt lonely AF! If you have friends in those countries having harsh winter, check on them.)

For yellow:-

See the difference between Seleucus and Chandragupta, Seleucus definitely looks more grim faced than Chandragupta, mostly Yavanas who came were warriors so maybe that's why they called them Grim Faced 😕 Also look at Seleucus' hair, why do anyone think this guy's daughter was blonde? 🤣😂 His wife was Persian so she wouldn't be blonde either. 🤣