Prince
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Aruna Shields, Nandana Sen, Dilip Tahil
Director: Kookie V Gulati
Rating: TBA
Vivek Oberoi might've gained more publicity for his link-up with the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai than his entire film career. Later, the man smartened up and proved his worth with power-packed performances in Saathiya and Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara. It's this Oberoi we are eagerly awaiting when Prince opens today. Directed by first-timer Kookie V Gulati, it's a thriller, where a savvy thief commits the biggest robbery of his life but does not remember it the next morning. Battling his amnesia, the thief gradually hits upon the truth. His name is Prince, his girlfriend is Maya and his boss Sarang.
Life for Prince gets messier when he sees secret service men and white collared criminals out to get him. For, the loot he has hidden contains a secret that threatens the very human race, and curiously Prince has no clue about it.
"Prince will have some of the world's best action sequences and visual effects", says Kumar Taurani, the film producer. It will also star newcomer Aruna Shields (one among three girls playing opposite Oberoi) and Nandana Sen. Oberoi, who is portraying a solo hero five years after he did Kisna, says that he was trained by a Thai martial arts expert for nearly six months before he stepped onto the set of Prince.
And stunts probably pay. At least that is what Taurani feels, citing as examples the Bond movies or the Bourne series or the recent James Cameron's Avatar.
But, is Prince all that unique as is being projected? I remember another Prince in the Dev Anand-starrer Jewel Thief.
He pretends to lose his memory when he realises that his enemies are out to electric-shock him into a state where he will believe that he is a prince!
Could the Vivek Oberoi-starrer Prince be inspired by the 1967 Vijay Anand directed Jewel Thief?