LOST ACTION HERO
Kookie V Gulati's Prince is just as implausible as Sanjay Gadhvi's Dhoom 2. The primary difference between the two films is that Hrithik Roshan has the charisma to make the most outrageous and senseless sequences entertaining, while Vivek Oberoi doesn't have the personality to look like a action hero even when you can tell he's trying really hard. Prince isn't a film to be dissected for the quality of its content, but to be enjoyed for its sheer cheesiness. Everything from the opening diamond heist to the Hollywood-style death-defying stunts, dizzying aerial photography and high-speed chases, the villain with a mechanical arm and the three heroines (one doesn't know who they are -- except Nandana Sen in ill-fitting clothes and a tattoo on her chest -- but they're uniformly stiff) is part of the mindless thriller formula.Prince wakes up one morning with total memory loss (a la Jason Bourne) and goes all over South Africa trying to trace the cause of his predicament. Which leads him to Sarang (Isaiah) who's in search of a 3000-year-old coin made with Ravana's blood and suffused with magical powers (yes, you've got to believe this). There are a few false leads strewn along the way (and if you've seen enough Hindi films, you'll catch each one of them), before the CBI (led by Sanjay Kapoor, who still hasn't learnt how to act!) and a secret intelligence unit called IGRIP (whatever that means) join hands with Prince and the real Maya (one of the three bimbettes) to vanquish the evil villain and restore Prince's lost memory.
It's evident the makers have spared no expense on Prince, not only from the locations, photography, stunts and special effects but also the tight leather jackets that everyone from the lead characters to the extras wear in every single frame. Oberoi gets an entire designer wardrobe to himself, a battery of fancy gadgets and endless screen time (since there really isn't anyone else to talk about), but his desperate lunge at superstardom is laughable, at best. It takes a different kind of aura to be a star and shoulder an expensive formula film. Oberoi just doesn't have it.
As a result, Prince ends up being a bad spoof of Hollywood thrillers rather than an entertaining film in its own right. You'd rather stay home and watch reruns of the Bourne series or a Bond movie instead.
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