Neil Smith described the film; "with elements of both "Gandhi" and "Braveheart", "Asoka" is a big, sprawling epic that looks every rupee it took to bring it to the screen." However, BBC's Santosh Sinha noted, "It is at this point in the film the prince go into hiding as per the request of the mother Queen that Asoka is temporarily lost and Shahrukh Khan the actor takes over. He meets Princess Kaurwaki in the forest and then chases her around in a typically Bollywood way. He is also less convincing when, grieved by the loss of life in Kalinga, he renounces violence and vows to spread the message of peace far and wide. This comes across as melodramatic. Bollywood style, Asoka finds Kaurwaki and the young Prince Arya of Kalinga on the battlefield. Prince Arya manages a dying speech before he keels over and that breaks Asoka completely." Taran Adarsh the famous Indian Film critic, journalist, editor and film trade analyst wrote that "Director Santosh Sivan has chosen a historical subject, but added his spice and come up with a fairytale kind of a flick." As a cinematographer, Santosh Sivan's work is flawless.