BOTTOM LINE
Nonsense Comedy
OUR RATING
2/5
CENSOR
U, 2h 23m
What Is the Film About?
Viswanadham (Sathya Raj) is a simpleton with idealistic values. He teaches it to the entire village and promotes unity removing caste divides. Anand (Sivakarthikeyan), his son, is a fun-loving guy who falls for a British girl Jessica (Maria).
What happens when a usually open-minded Viswanadham rejects his son’s love is the core plot of Prince. The movie’s overall story is about how Anand, aka Prince, changes the rigid mindsets of the people around him and the village.
Performances
Prince is the kind of movie that allows Sivakarthikeyan to play it to his strength and the galleries. He does well on both counts in his usual style. There are no big emotional moments like his previous flick in Prince. It is all entertainment, and he delivers it in abundance. It is aimed at his fans, and there is a star quality to it which might have a little less appeal to those not used to it.
Maria playing a British girl is a poor choice. She is expressionless. Even when so much is happening around Maria, she is clueless. No wonder, despite such obvious presence character-wise, she fails to register and is relegated to the back seat.
Analysis
Anudeep KV of Jathi Ratnalu fame directs Prince. Like his previous film, Prince too, has a wafer-thin plot. It relies heavily on comedy to pull through the narrative.
The beginning of the movie sets the tone for what lies ahead. It also shows the potential issues that are possible with the narrative. The first thing that registers is the dialogue; there is a lot of talk by multiple characters and in between them. The second thing is weak characters.
Take Sathyaraj’s character, for example. He is a serious guy with respect to his views and worldviews, in general. But his action and words are all for comedy’s sake. It is the same with others as well, which never lets one connect or relate with the roles.
There is an undercurrent romance and drama in the story. But, again, the comedy overrides all the emotions. It is all about the writing and the gags pretty soon. Some of them work in the first half, for sure. The sequences where English names of vegetables are brought up is one among them.
The problem in Prince is since it uses gags for narrative, they run out of punches pretty soon. They progressively become sillier and don’t evoke a laugh.
After a decent interval block, one expected things to turn a bit dramatic, but verbal diarrhoea continued. There is more silly comedy in the second half. Unfortunately, most of it falls flat and has an outdated vibe.
The characters come together and talk and talk and talk. And that’s what the narrative is until the end. The resolutions to the minor conflicts are also dealt with humour with little emotion.
Whether good or bad, director Anudeep KV’s mark is all over. It strongly reminds one of his previous blockbuster flick writing-wise. The issue here is the artificial milieu and setting. The lack of rootedness is the biggest culprit.
The village backdrop seems to be chosen to have organic free flowing, rooted conversations. But in Prince, we have routine commercial movie characters inhabiting the space. They then do all formulaic things possible but keep the words earthy and rooted. It is this lack of sync which never allows us to be engaged with the proceedings. One just laughs at the few gags and then forgets them.
Overall, Prince is a routine commercial fare filled with Jathi Ratnalu kind of comedy. Sadly, it doesn’t work the intended way and leaves one frustrated. Even if one is okay with the silliest and outdated humour, the second half is bound to disappoint.
Performances by Others Actors
Apart from the main leads, Sathya Raj and Premgi Amaren are the two actors with decent roles among the crowd. They do the required, but one can undoubtedly feel their potential is wasted. The rest of the cast lacks the impact and is lost in the galaxy of artists.
Music and Other Departments?
S Thaman’s music is decent and goes well with the ‘commercial’ aspect of the whole narrative. The songs are timed and shot well. The background score, too, is decent.
Manoj Paramahamsa’s cinematography lends a visually rich palette to the movie even though it’s set in a village background. The artwork is good, and the production values are moderately adequate. The editing should have been much better. A day before the release, twelve minutes were trimmed. Looking at the film, well, all we can say is there is more scope in that regard. The dialogues are many and come non-stop, but only a few impress.
Highlights?
Few Comedy Blocks
First Half, In Parts
Decent Production Values
Drawbacks?
Outdated Comedy
Non-Stop Cringe Dialogues
Flimsy Story
No Connect With Characters
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Prince Telugu Movie Review by M9News
Final Report:
The second half, too, runs on a formulaic narrative with back-to-back gags. Many of them miss the mark as it’s Jathi Ratnalu meets Jabardasth comedy without the unique characterisations of the former. Nothing looks organic. Full review coming shortly.
— Prince second half started. The local guy falling in love with British girl brings more issues to the village.
First Half Report:
Prince is a regular entertainer stuffed with a comedy of Jabardasth bits. Some punches work, and there are a lot of cringes as well. Everything depends on the second half now to see where Prince ends.
— Anand works as teacher. He falls in love with Jessica, his colleague who is a foreigner.
— Prince show started. Anand (Sivakarthikeyan) is being exiled from his village. His father Viswanadham (Satyaraj) is a social activist and a good hearted person in the village.
Prince Tamil/Telugu Movie Cast & Crew:
Sivakarthikeyan, Maria Riaboshapka, Sathyaraj
Director – Anudeep KV
Story – Anudeep KV & Mohan Sato
Dialouges(Tamil) – Prabhakaran, Anand narayanan
Music – Thaman S
DOP – Manoj paramahamsa
Produced By Suniel Narang, D.Suresh Babu, Puskur Ram Mohan Rao.
Prince Telugu Movie Review by M9News
