Yet another period film is on the anvil. This time it will be coming from director Rajkumar Santoshi. Before commencing work on his Ramayana, the director will start work on his his next which is based on the life of Ashoka, The Great.

And it does not take much to guess who will play the hero in the film. Yes, it is none other than Ajay Devgan who has been signed to play the lead role of King Ashoka. The two have worked together in many films including Lajja, The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Khakee, among others. Bipasha Basu has been signed to play the female lead. The film is expected to go on the floors in early January next year. It will be shot in various parts of Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangkok and on the sets in Mumbai. The film has tentatively been titled Ashoka the Great. According to Santoshi, his version of the film will be completely different from Santosh Sivan's Ashoka made in 2001 starring Shah Rukh Khan in the leading role. Santoshi's is expected to start from the Kalinga War, whereas Sivan's film finished there. The war marked a turning point in the king's life and Santoshi's film is expected to deal with Ashoka's life after the Kalinga War. As for Ramayana, Santoshi says that he will begin work on it once he is through with Ashoka. Ajay Devgan and Kajol have already been signed to play the lead roles of Ram and Sita.