We have witnessed this numerous times before in Bollywood but the makers seem to be simply uninterested in learning from their previous mistakes. Recently we saw millions of rupees going down the drain with films like “Chandni Chowk To China”, “Drona”, “Blue” & “Aladin” but nobody took a lesson from their fate at the box office and here we are, once again served with a similar kind of project called “Prince”, which surprisingly gives you nothing to write about apart from its stylish presentation and camerawork.
As the movie started, it gave me the feeling that it’s sure going to be another example of all gloss and no content. And the same was proved in its later reels when all the youngsters present in the theater were visibly looking as confused as Vivek Oberoi in the film. In short, nobody exactly knew that what was happening on the screen and why. And the two questions I had in mind while watching “Prince” were that “Is this, what they call entertainment for the masses? and “Was this the film, Vivek was banking upon to work wonders for his not so happening career?
Truly speaking, no one in the film should feel that way as the project is seriously not capable of helping anyone involved in it. Right from the start, the movie has childishly executed sequences where the hero is stealing diamonds as if he is stealing candies from a display jar in a store. Bullets are being fired at him from every angle by the policemen without even thinking of injuring any trespassers. And on top of it, not even one touches our hero and he goes on to jump out of a multi storey building with a parachute tied at his back. Further, we are also forced to see him hanging from one building to another spinning a Spiderman kind of web as he is supposed to be well equipped with ultra modern gadgets developed by him in his own laboratory.
The story has its main plot revolving around the memory loss of Vivek and also has a particular scene shot with a mirror which straight away reminds you the one seen in Aamir’s “Ghajini”. The only difference is that here the memory is not lost due to any accident, but it is actually taken away or erased from the mind of Vivek, with the help of a newly invented chip. No doubt the action sequences and their execution is technically superb giving a Hollywood kind of look to the movie. But “Prince” should make one fact clear to all Bollywood film-makers that you cannot win over the viewers with only technical excellence achieved in a project. The shining body of a movie can only get you some instant eye balls at the start, but if you want to have more foot fall in the theaters later on, then you got to work on the main content, storyline and script of the movie.
Looking at the history of Indian Cinema, it is a proven fact that a simple and well directed project making no technical achievements of any sort but having an interesting tale to tell can always become a success at the box office. Hrishi Da and Basu Chatterjee’s movies are the best examples of that. But it is completely impossible to fool the audiences by only showing excellent graphic touches on the screen, shot on exotic foreign locations along with beautiful ladies in revealing outfits and then expecting a huge hit out of it.
“Prince” exactly tries the same and falls flat on ground in absence of an engrossing and thrilling screenplay. As suggested by its promotional campaign, the movie was expected to be high on technical grounds but relying entirely on its execution was like taking the viewers for granted. The screenplay even comes out to be pretty hilarious at times when the three ladies come by their own turn and introduce themselves to Vivek (who has lost his memory) as “Maya”. Later they simply transform into the routine glamour dolls of Hindi Cinema, who are there only to sing songs and provide the relief element to the viewers.
Director Kookie Gulati, who was earlier famous for his lavish music videos, has surely got the right vision as what would look nice on the screen, but he falters greatly in his writing department which turns out to be the main weakness of his prestigious project. He starts off promisingly with a heist sequence (inspired from Hollywood of course) but then fails to hold the viewer’s attention in the second half. However it was really surprising that the movie was written by Shiraz Ahmed of “Race” fame. If this is the result of trying to be original, then he should better continue copying some lesser known world movies as he did in “Race”. In the Music department, Sachin Gupta tries to cash on the Atif craze by roping him in as the lead singer of his main songs. The soundtrack is not anything above the routine with only one marginally good song which is now being used for its T.V. promotion.
Vivek Oberoi tries to look tough and even gives you the signs of an extremely over confident personality. He is excellent in his stunts but sadly all the fight visuals in the movie appear to be fake and hugely exaggerated. Frankly speaking, Vivek will have to wait for RGVs “Raktcharitra” to do something for him in his career as “Prince” would not be able to prove the much desired jump board for him. In the female lead, Nandana Sen looks stunning but is wasted in an unimportant role of a vamp. Neeru is just there to fill up the space and Aruna gets the major attraction only in the second half. Both Sanjay Kapoor & Dalip Tahil play their routine kind of roles effectively.
The only worth mentioning merit of the movie remains its Cinematography by Vishnu Rao, who presents himself as a DOP at par with the professionals working in the West. In fact, it’s his top notch camera angles, lighting and placements which keep you seated till the end. Otherwise, the movie is just like a white blank canvas with a stylish and expensive frame. It can also be referred as the cheap Chinese Version of the famous Bond movies. So, you can easily take this out of your weekend plans.
Rating : 1 / 5 (And that’s too for only Vishnu Rao, the DOP)
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