Prince (1969 film)

Plot

Rajkumar Shamsher Singh is the only son of the local Maharaja, and has been brought up as a brat, and now he is an irresponsible, alcoholic, and womanizing adult, who wants everyone to bow down before him and his princely rank. One priest refuses to do so, and Shamsher pummels him mercilessly, in vain though. Frustrated, he asks the priest what he should do with his mundane life, and the priest tells him that he should repent, sacrifice all his palatial pleasures, and live the life of a simple and ordinary man, and hence learn the true meaning of life, for at least six months. Shamsher agrees to do so, and arranges an accident with his car, which plummets down a mountain, explodes and is blown to smithereens. Everyone in the palace believes that Shamsher is dead. He goes to a nearby village, and a blind woman there mistakes him for her long-lost son and starts calling him Sajjan Singh. Shamsher decides to play along as Sajjan.

Two corrupt palace officials spot Sajjan, and notice his similarity to Shamsher, and conspire with him to pose as Shamsher for a hefty sum of money, to which Sajjan agrees. When he accompanies the officials back to the palace, he is shocked to find that his father has remarried a much younger woman, Ratna, and shortly after marrying her, has died, leaving the palace and its management to her and her greedy brother. Shamsher decides to reveal his true identity, but the officials threaten to expose him to his new-found blind mother, and Shamsher knows that he is trapped in the body of Sajjan Singh, forced to pose as none other than himself.

Cast

Production Team

F C Mehra and Lekh Tandon had previously worked with Vyjayanthimala in the historical film Amrapali (1966).The team of producer F C Mehra, director Lekh Tandon, actor Shammi Kapoor and musicians Shankar Jaikishan had earlier worked together on the hit film Professor (1962). FC had also worked with Shammi earlier in Mujrim (1958), Ujala (1959) and Singapore (1960).

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by the Shankar Jaikishan duo with the lyrics were penned by Hasrat Jaipuri and Faruk Qaiser. The album had Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle who lend their voice to Shammi Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala and Helen respectively.

Box office

At the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed around ₹4,00,00,000 with nett gross of ₹2,00,00,000, thus becomes the fourth highest grossing film of 1969 with verdict hit at box office.