Thrilling Thief, Dull Tale

By MovieTalkies.com, 10 April 2010 2 / 5

Well, what can one say of 'Prince?' The film has truckloads of action sequences, a wonderful premise, some good catchy music, and very little coherent content. Hardly the recipe for a successful movie, really! The film comes with a lot of buzz surrounding it… but fails to enthrall. Director Kookie Gulati stumbles on the most basic requirement, a well thought out screenplay. The result is that viewers are unable to make any connect with the movie, as there is hardly any story for them to dig into. And to think that the producers pumped in Rs 50 crore into the movie! On paper, the concept of having your memory robbed is quite novel, but it doesn't quite come off as that interesting in the movie itself. Of course, to be fair, 'Prince' works in the first half, at least. But in the second half…one is left gasping for content! Briefly, the film's story is about this super, high-tech thief, Prince (Vivek Oberoi), who loses his memory right after a grand heist. He wakes up the next morning, with absolutely no clue as to who he is and why he has a bullet wound on his arm. The CBI, the Indian secret service and other thieves, all of who want a certain coin and a chip, which holds the secret to his memory loss and can spell doom for Planet Earth. Dodging his enemies, he discovers that his name is Prince and that he has girlfriend called Maya, and also that he works for a man called Sarang. But the problem is that he meets three girls…all of who claim to be Maya! Besides, he has no clue as to where the booty is hidden. The director manages to lay out his premise competently but after the first hour, he finds it tough to keep viewer interest alive. There are endless action sequences and chases, which have been quite well orchestrated by action director Allan Amin, but that's not enough to hold the viewers as the story leaves too many questions unanswered. The film has some lovely visuals, specially the outdoor sequences in South Africa, which have been well shot by cinematographer Vishnu Rao. The music by Sachin Gupta is quite catchy. Even though writer Shiraz Ahmed manages a decent job in the first half, he botches up the second half. The film is supposed to be a vehicle to put Vivek back in the reckoning as a hero. To give him due credit, he tries hard and executes his stunts quite well. He tries to make the most of it, and is one of the few good things about the film. Of the three ladies, Nandana Sen and Aruna Shields impress, while Neeru gets too little scope. The other members of the cast, which include Sanjeev Kapoor, Rajesh Khattar and Dalip Tahil are passable. With a more sorted out second half, the film would have proved to be quite absorbing. Gulati starts with an interesting premise but is unable to build on that as he is handicapped by an inconsistent screenplay. There are bits and places where the film hooks you, especially in the actions sequences, but that's just about it.

Prince: Atif's Royal Outing...

By MovieTalkies.com, 11 March 2010 2 / 5

He's in royal 'Company' with thrills at his Tips. Actor Vivek Oberoi is looking ahead to the release of 'Prince', which has him playing a solo hero after quite a while. The actor who has emerged from a dismal phase was last spotted in 'Kurbaan.' Directed by debutant Kookie Gulati, 'Prince' has been produced by music giants TIPS, with tunes composed by Sachin Gupta, and Sameer coming in to pen the lyrics. In all, there are 16 tracks in the album, of which eight are remixes alone. The album kicks off with the Atif Aslam number, 'o mere khuda', which occurs twice in the album. But as the first track, this is an energetic start and Aslam gives the song his all. There is a strong techno feel to the number which proves to the catchiest song of the album and has even managed to generate a lot of popularity for itself, by now. It shows up once again in the album as a dance remix. The second song on the album, 'tere liye,'is sung by Atif and Shreya Ghoshal, proves to be quite catchy as well, almost matching 'o mere khuda' with its palpable energy. It is a fast paced love song and both singers combine very well indeed to make it quite a memorable outing. This number occurs three more times in the album. The first is a dance mix, the second, a hip hop mix and the final version is the unplugged one, which has composer Gupta going behind the mike and giving a solo rendition which just a guitar for company. This proves to be the best version of all, one which calls for repeated hearing as Gupta simply excels. The third number in the album is 'kaun hoon main', a solo by Atif. A slow, philosophic number, 'kaun hoon main', has a soft rock feel to it. However, it lacks that instantly catchy feel, it may not fare as well at the charts as the previous numbers. It appears as a dance mix and a lounge mix, later in the album. The makers of the movie seem to be quite enamoured of the 'o mere khuda' number and have decided to use the same tune, albeit on a slower note, in the fourth number of the album, 'aa bhi ja sanam,' as well. Atif seems to get into the feel of things and acquits himself rather well, making this a very likeable number. It has a dance mix version, as well. 'jiyara jiyara' is the next number on the album which has Alisha Chinoy and Hard Kaur coming in to do the honours. The latter does her usual rap and it is Alisha who really carries the song through with her saucy and spirited rendition. The next number on this album is 'ishq mein' which is a solo number by Monali Thakur. This is your typical seduction number and has no novelty, whatsoever. The singer does a competent job, but there is just enough that she can do to lift a clichéd tune and lyrics. One just has to mention 'Prince – Mega Mix', which merges all the songs in the album into one whole and has Atif, Shreya, Alisha and Hard coming together and doing their bit. It has an upbeat, peppy feel to it and should do well as a dance number. The album concludes with a one minute 'Prince' theme instrumental track, which serves as an apt conclusion. It has an upbeat, thrilling feel to it, which sums up the music of the album quite well indeed. Young composer Sachin Gupta does a fairly good job with the music of 'Prince'. He has at least two chartbuster songs on his hands in this album, which says a lot. He uses Atif rather effectively for the numbers on this album and creates music in keeping with the genre of the movie, with numbers that are fast and peppy. Guess, this one's a decent 'Prince.'

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