Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon in a still from ‘Prince’ Photo credit: T Series Films
A useless remake of Telugu blockbuster Ala VaikanthapuramuluPrince Reluctance to do something: entertainment. Originally, this is a ‘Manmohan Desai meets Davi Dhawan’ type of masala recipe but in the hands of director Rohit Dhawan, it tastes very bland and generic.
The original Telugu film was based on the emotional premise of Trivakaram Srinivas’ story rooted in centuries of social division and of course Allu Arjun’s poignant mourning. Both are in short supply here as there is no internal logic and Rohit fails to make us suspend disbelief after half an hour. Valmiki (Paresh Rawal) swaps her newborn baby with her master Randeep Jindal (Roneet Roy) so that her boy can live a wonderful life. However, things don’t go as planned, if anything, as Bantu’s (Karthik Aaryan) genes cannot be tamed by Valmiki’s taunts.
We can see through the regressive tone where the makers lead to the nature vs. nurture debate and pedigree in the charade in the name of performance. The cynicism and social indifference of the idea is toned down, perhaps not to offend multiplex audiences, but in the process, it changes. Prince In a toothless animal. The remaining two hours are spent on the antics of a seemingly selfless boy with a golden heart, drawn from a series of pan-Indian hits of yesteryear.
Prince (Hindi)
Director: Rohit Dhawan
The cast: Karthik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Manisha Koirala, Paresh Rawal, Ronit Roy, Sachin Khedekar
Run time: 142 minutes
The story line: A middle-class man swaps his infant son for his master’s son so that his boy can live a lavish life. But things don’t go according to plan when her master’s son grows up and becomes intolerant of her taunts.
Hussain Dalal’s dialogues do not have the unbridled punch that we expect from a product of Dhawan’s house. Whatever fun there is in the lines has already been squeezed into the trailers. Karthik has chosen the wrong vehicle to enter the universe of mass entertainers. He’s not bad, but here he’s held back by a script that expects him to jump without signing off. Panchnama of his friend’s picture. He is stuck somewhere in the past.
It could still have been saved if the skits in between had been funny and the songs and dances – which were the highlight of the original and the reason the film had a female lead – added some value to the proceedings. The music doesn’t capture our senses and Kriti is completely lost in a sketchy role that gives her a lot of legroom but little else.
Ronit seems to have walked straight from the sets of the daily soap and along with Manisha Koirala tries hard to inject some melodrama and dollop of grace into the proceedings. However, they cannot save the prince from this pointless joke.
Prince is currently playing in cinemas.
