Warning: Contains some innocuous spoilers
This week was sort of a comeback week. I’m making a comeback to The Intellectual Kiosk after exactly a month, Shoaib Malik and his would be wife Sania Mirza, were back to the front pages of the tabloids and caught all the eyeballs certainly for reasons other than their sporting proficiencies (have doubts about Ms. Mirza’s proficiency though), and a certain Mr. Viveik Oberoi made a colossal comeback to the silver screen as the solo lead, and how.
Well, the story (haha) of Prince begins at a huge diamond corporation (in Hiranandani), Mumbai. The so called world’s best, an international thief, Prince (Viveik Oberoi), breaks in, and with the help of his friends (who’re outside the building in a van with all the fancy gadgetry), steals several diamonds. All of this, in the Minority Report and Mission Impossible style. Next we see newspaper flashes of various heists in different parts of the world. (This is how our hero is an international thief) And there comes O Mere Khuda! with titles. Next, we go 3 months ahead in time and we see some super locations of Durban, South Africa, and amidst a beautiful countryside scenery is an exotic villa in which the same Prince is lying on the bed (wish he never got up). His irritating servant tells him how he got there but our hero remembers not even a bit. There he goes trying to gather every bit of vital information that could lead him to his real identity and reveal the deadly secrets (LOL). Prince comes across 3 women (Niroo Bajwa/ Nandana Sen/Aruna Shields), all of whom claim to be Maya, his girlfriend. The CBI, lead by Sanjay Kapoor, is after him; the IGRIP (Indian Government Research and Protocol), lead by Dalip Tahil is after him; the 3 women are after him and so is the villain (some Mimoh look alike) (Soon the distributors and the audiences will be after him, too). We gain the ‘essential’ knowledge that they are chasing him in order to fetch a 3,000 years old ancient Sri Lankan coin, (which he stole as an antique) within which is concealed a chip which our Indian scientists made after 8 painstaking years. The chip, capable of erasing and reloading memory from human brain is the reason behind Prince’s loss of memory (wish I had a similar chip to erase my memory of watching Prince). In the rest of the movie we see thousands of bullets being fired collectively but none piercing the hero, parachutes and gliders moving around seamlessly (wonder how each time these characters managed to land with utter perfection), crashing cars and idiotic chase sequences. I wouldn’t even like to admit what happens in the end. The most irritating thing in the film is when the cast keeps uttering the film's tagline : It's Showtime.
The fact is that the makers gathered every possible failure from the industry, stuffed them in an attractive package and delivered the same with no shame. The makers right from the start assume that the viewers are outright dim wits and they could be fooled at every stage of storytelling. Viveik Oberoi has perhaps made the biggest mistake by signing this lucrative big budget film with a view to rise from the ashes. He was better off doing meaningful roles in a multi starrer. What can I say about the 3 women! Believe me; if any of the actresses (I’d like to call them something belittling but will have to observe my niceties) had a shred of self respect they would have rejected the roles first time they got the offer. All of them have nothing to do except creating some doubt in the minds of the viewers (that’s what the makers tried unsuccessfully), dance around in cheesy skimpy attire, and look foolish. Neeru Bajwa would regret quitting television soaps as she looks nothing more than an ugly oaf in this film. Nandana Sen is the curvaceous who is tattooed all over the body. As for Aruna Shields, she needs to work on her Hindi, her acting and be prepared to dub her own dialogues, then think of even signing a film. Total waste all of them. I think it would not even interest you to know how the rest of the cast has performed.
This one is a total waste of time, money, energy and perhaps even careers. A cheap attempt to make an action/thriller, a 2nd grade Hollywood action/thriller is a much better option than this one. I care less to split the review into the various aspects of film making as I had done for MNIK because there is not even a single point that acts as the saving grace. I would not be surprised to find everyone associated with the film muttering O Mere Khuda, Haadsa Ye Na Jaane Kab Hua!
And why I cared to write this review in the 1st place is because I wanted to save all of you, my loved ones, from experiencing something as atrocious. My friend Dhaval dozed off twice and was ready to leave in the interval. There were merely 25-30 people who had come to watch the show, and on a Saturday afternoon that is a poor number. Things are bound to get worse in the coming days. I hope after reading all this you shall not dare go to the theatres and if you still possess the courage then all the best. Bhagwan aapko bachaye.
Rating: 1.5/5
P.S.: Adi, once again I've written a review but I've saved you the pain of watching a horrendous film like Prince.
