# Prince (1969 film)

Prince is a 1969 Indian Hindi-language film produced by F. C. Mehra and directed by Lekh Tandon. The film stars Shammi Kapoor with Vyjayanthimala in the lead while Rajendranath, Ajit, Helen, Leela Chitnis and Asit Sen form an ensemble cast. The film's music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan with lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and Faruk Qaiser. Prince is a drama set in the times of resurgent India when the nation threw off the British yoke, but some states still languished under the Princely yoke. It is the story of a Prince who brought about his own downfall so that he may rise as a human being. Vyjayanthimala got married in 1968 and then completed this film in 1969.
The rights to this film are owned by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment.

## Plot

Rajkumar Shamsher Singh (Shammi Kapoor) is the only son of the local Maharaja (Ulhas) of Ramnagar, 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. Shamsher has no interest in getting married either. One priest refuses to do so (when Shamsher visits his cottage, the Priest wants to wait his turn as he is seeing other patients), and Shamsher pummels him mercilessly (after abducting him and bringing him to his palace), though in vain. 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. But the jeep takes down a boat in the river Everyone in the palace believes that Shamsher is dead.
The boat belonged to Princess Amrita (Vyjayanthimala), who was at the river front with her entourage and boat was carrying their clothes while they bathed. Amrita has to borrow clothes from locals to hide their shame. Shamsher had befriended Vilayatiram (Rajendra Nath), who had a car. The duo come across Amrita and her entourage, who wanted a lift.. Shamsher is then abducted by Dacoit (Rajan Kapoor). One of the men Sajjan Singh (Sudhir), wanted to leave the criminal life to go back to his mother and rescues Shamsher. But Sajjan is pursued by Dacoits and shot down. Shamsher is about to be shot, when Vilayati brings the police, who shoot the gangsters down. Shamsher decides to keep Sajjan's promise to his mom (who is blind) The village falls under Jamnapur kingdom led by The King of Jamnapur (Sapru).
Shamsher goes to a nearby village, and a blind woman Shanti (Leela Chitnis) there mistakes him for her long-lost son and starts calling him Sajjan Singh. Sajjan has been gone for 10+ yrs and so, no-one in the village remembers him. Shanti's neighbor Kamla (Leela Mishra) has been living next door for 6 yrs and had never seen Sajjan. Shamsher gets a job at the stables of the King of Jamnapur. There he finds that Amrita is a princess. Shamsher gets close to the King by playing good polo. The King is impressed and appoints him his ADC, in place of Ratan (Shyam Kumar) assistant of King of Jamnapur.. Sophia (Helen) is Amrita's good friend. Amrita is livid that an ordinary man like Shamsher has no respect for her, but despite her anger, the King favors Shamsher.. Slowly Amrita is impacted by Shamsher's simple heart and good nature.
The King is summoned by New Delhi and informed that his Kingdom will end on 20th of that month. The King orders Ratan to move the cash to Switzerland and empty the treasury. Meanwhile Amrita is invited by her friend Ratna to her wedding and the King decides to attend as well. Shamsher realizes that Ratna is marrying his dad, who decided to remarry to keep the family name alive (as he thinks Shamsher is dead). At the wedding, Shamsher has to dress like a women to hide from the minions of his dad. He ends up in Amrita's room who tries to shoot him before professing her love for him. As people come running after the shot, Shamsher has to escape from Amrita's window, where her father watches him..
The King asks Ratan to get Shamsher beaten up for his audacity. Shamsher is badly injured and Shanti sells her meager jewels to arrange for the doctor and the medical care, to save Shamsher's life. As Shamsher recovers, he is fired by the King. Shamsher doesn't know that the attack on him was conducted by Ratan and the King. Then Shamsher learns that Amrita has gone to Ramnagar as her friend Ratna is now a widow. Which means Shamsher lost his father.
Two corrupt palace officials Zorawar Singh (Rashid Khan) & Michael (Randhir) spot Sajjan, and notice his similarity to Shamsher (at the wedding), and conspire with him to pose as Shamsher for a hefty sum of money, to which Sajjan agrees. They want Shamsher to split the treasury with them & Vilayti (who brought them to Shamsher) When he accompanies the officials back to the palace, he is shocked to find that Ratna (Parveen Choudhary), and her greedy brother (Ajit) are in charge of the management of the palace and its estate. Shamsher is welcomed back into the palace by the entire staff, but predictably Ratna and her brother are shocked to see him. But Amrita identifies Shamsher as her stable boy and ADC from Jamnapur, Sajjan. 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.
Shamsher continues to treat Amrita with disdain and she is forced to accept that Sajjan was a sweet and humble man, not mean as Shamsher. On his birthday, the Dacoits attacks and abduct Shamsher, Amrita and Ratna's brother. Ratna's brother promises to give 15 Lakhs ransom for the safe release of Shamsher and Amrita. Ratna's brother sends a letter to Ratna for the money, but she only sends back Rs 5 Lakhs as she didn't have that kind of cash lying around. Ratna's brother asks the Dacoit to release him and promises to send back Rs 10 Lakhs by next morning. Turns out this entire drama was scripted by Ratna's brother, who was working with the Dacoits. The Dacoits will kill Shamsher and Amrita will be witness to the act and no suspicion will fall on Ratna or her brother.
The plan goes astray when Shamsher escapes. The Dacoit try to sexually assault Amrita, but Shamsher returns to have a hand to hand combat, in which Shamsher kills the Dacoit. As luck would have it Shanti decides to come to Ramnagar in search for her son Sajjan. She ends up in front of Ratna's brother, who understands the full picture. Meanwhile Amrita's father, King of Jamnapur agrees to marry Amrita to Shamsher, the prince of Ramnagar. To expose Shamsher, Ratna's brother has Shanti sweeping the floors of the palace at Shamsher's engagement party. As Ratna's brother insults Shanti, Shamsher rises to her defense. Shanti can recognize Shamsher's voice as her Sajjan, thereby exposing Shamsher's lie. As palace guards attack Shamsher, his dog comes to his defense and Ratna's brother realizes that Sajjan and Shamsher are one and the same person. Shamsher leaves the palace with Shanti.
The priest comes to the palace and reveals that before hiding, the prince had given all the estate to charity, widows and orphans. Amrita meets the priest in secret and demands to know whether Shamsher is alive or not. She says that Shamsher would not have made the will while his dad was alive, he would have made it after his death, which means the priest would have met him a few days ago. Priest confirms that Sajjan and Shamsher are one and the same. Meanwhile Ratna's bro captures Shamsher again and tortures him to write a new will to negate the old one. Amrita goes to rescue him, but Ratna's bro uses Amrita to force Shamsher to write the new will. Shamsher fights back kills Ratna's bro by throwing him into flames of fire. Amrita marries Shamsher and they live their life as a common farmer.

## Cast

* Shammi Kapoor as Prince Shamsher Singh / Sajjan Singh
* Vyjayanthimala as Princess Amrita
* Rajendra Nath as Vilayatiram
* Ajit as Ratna's brother
* Helen as Sophia
* Leela Chitnis as Mrs. Shanti Singh
* Parveen Choudhary as Ratna
* Sudhir as Sajjan Singh
* Sunder as Zoravar
* Rashid Khan Zorawar Singh
* Sapru (actor) as The King of Jamnapur
* Ulhas as The King of Ramnagar
* Leela Mishra as Kamla
* David Abraham as Diwan
* Randhir (actor) as Michael
* Pinchoo Kapoor as Colonel
* Bramh Bharadwaj as Commissioner
* Shyam Kumar as Ratan assistant of King of Jamnapur
* Rajan Kapoor as Dacoit
* Asit sen as Dacoit's man
* Maqsood as a guest in Shamsher's birthday party

## 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). F.C. 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, while the lyrics were penned by Hasrat Jaipuri and Faruk Qaiser. The album had Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle who lent their voice to Shammi Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala and Helen respectively.
The hit song "Badan Pe Sitare", sung by Rafi, was covered by Sonu Nigam in Fanney Khan (2018), starring Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Rajkummar Rao. The music video featured Kapoor in the lead.
| No. | Song | Singers | Picturization | Length (m:ss) | Lyrics |
| 1 | "Badan Pe Sitare Lapete" | Mohammad Rafi | Vyjayanthimala and Shammi Kapoor | 04:48 | Hasrat Jaipuri |
| 2 | "Madhosh Hawa Matwal" | Mohammad Rafi | Shammi Kapoor | 09:58 | Faruk Qaiser |
| 3 | "Muqabla Hum Se Na Karo" | Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle | Shammi Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala and Helen | 07:53 | Hasrat Jaipuri |
| 4 | "Nazar Mein Bijili" | Mohammed Rafi | Vyjayanthimala and Shammi Kapoor | 04:19 | Faruk Qaiser |
| 5 | "Thandi Thandi Hawa" | Lata Mangeshkar and chorus | Vyjayanthimala and Shammi Kapoor | 04:42 | Hasrat Jaipuri |
| 6 | "Bachke Jane Na Doongi" | Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi | Shammi Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala | 05:30 | Faruk Qaiser |

## Box office

At the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed around ₹4,00,00,000 with a net of ₹2,00,00,000, thus becoming the fourth highest grossing film of 1969 with a verdict of All Time BlockBuster at Box Office India.