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June 27, 2008. Amitabh Bachchan is set to play the legendary emperor Ashoka in a movie to be co-produced by AB Corp.

The Bachchans have begun a new chapter by tying up with Anil Ambani’s Reliance group to form a joint film production company. Many directors have already been signed for several projects, and among them is Chandraprakash Dwivedi , who directed Pinjar .
Dwivedi has incidentally been working on a project for about a decade. It is the story of relationship between king Ashoka and his son Kunal. 

Kunal was blinded at a young age and left his father’s kingdom. After many years he returned and demanded his son Sampriti to be made the successor.

Dwivedi says when he conceived the idea of making the film about a decade ago, he thought of none other than Mr. Bachchan to play the role of an aged emperor Ashoka. 

And now that Dwivedi has been signed to make a film for the Bachchans, the director is reviving the yet-untitled project. 

Big B is almost finalized for the part, but the superstar still has to give his final nod.

Dwivedi is also in talks with Jaya Bachchan to play king Ashoka’s wife.
Dwivedi who has written and script as well as the screenplay for the untitled film, says, “The story is a legend based on a collection of Buddhist texts called the Avadanas which deals with the purification of the soul and mind.

Dwivedi chanced upon the story when he was working on his TV series Chanakya. “The story fascinated me as it dwelt on the strange yet loving relationship between father and son. Kunal was born a year before the Kalinga war. There is no detailed account of what actually happened.

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