Making his debut in the film world as a cinematographer with the critically acclaimed 1993 movie Karulina Koogu, Ashok Cashyap is an Indian director of photography and filmmaker, who works primarily in the Kannada film industry. He is mainly known for helming the camera in films like Shhh! (1993), Bhuvana Jyoti (1994), O Mallige (1997), Shaapa (2001), Sundara Neenu Sundari Nanu (2001), and Chamkaisi Chindi Udaisi (2009). For his work in Shaapa, Ashok won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Cinematographer in 2001. Ashok's recent significant film credits include Super (2010), Super Ranga (2014), Uppi 2 (2015) and the 2017 romantic thriller Kaafi Thota.

In 2018 Ashok made his directorial debut with the political thriller Dhwaja. The movie is an official Kannada remake of the Tamil movie, Kodi (2016) which had Dhanush and Trisha Krishnan in the lead roles. Dhwaja has debutant Ravi and National Award winner Priyamani in the lead roles. The cast also includes Divya Uruduga, TN Seetharam, Tabala Nani, and Veena Sundar in important ro