May Issue 2010

Diamond and bank heist movies come a dime a dozen in Hollywood, and it was only a matter of time before Bollywood started following that trend. With a theme that the casual movie-goer is already all too familiar with, one would have expected Prince to add something new to the heist movie genre. But sadly, it follows the same old formula and proves to be as repetitive and clichéd as the rest.

The main character, Prince, is played by Vivek Oberoi — and had it not been for his slick moves, his deadpan acting might have sank the movie. Prince is reputed to be one of the savviest thieves in the world and is employed to commit the biggest heist of his life. The heist goes smoothly, except that Prince wakes up the next day with a bullet wound on his arm and no memory of who he is, or what had happened to him.

In his quest to find answers, he discovers that he used to work for a man named Sarang (Isaiah), that his girlfriend’s name is Maya, and that he is now the most wanted man in the country. India’s intelligence agency, I-Grip, is after him, as are all the biggest white-collared criminals in the world since he is the only person who knows the whereabouts of a microchip that contains the secret to his memory loss and threatens the future of the entire human race. In all of this, he is met with three different Mayas (Nandana Sen, Niroo Singh and Aruna Sheilds), each one claiming to be his real girlfriend, and each one with her own agenda. Prince has no option but to rely upon his sharp instincts to save himself from the peril, and find the precious chip before he runs out of time.

The plot takes interesting twists and turns from here on — only to be expected with Shiraz Ahmed of Race as scriptwriter — and what ensues is some very impressive cinematography that gives any Hollywood action thriller a run for its money. However, the overall impact of the movie remains below-average. Despite its beautiful locations, well-executed action scenes and three bouncing beauties, the movie succeeds in boring its audience — particularly the second half, which loses much of the thrill that the first half manages to create. The dialogue, too, leaves much to be desired. One phrase which is used to death and only serves to consistently add a lame punch to the movie, is “It’s Showtime!” which Prince uses in a very comic-book-hero style before each escapade.

It is a movie worth watching for its top-notch visuals, but aside from that, it doesn’t have much else working in its favour.