Prince

<p>Anbarasan (Anbu) is a popular social science teacher at a secondary school in . Anbu, whose father is Ulaganathan, comes from a wealthy and successful family. In Ulaganathan’s village, and religion are the basis of society; Ulaganathan eschews these conventions and encourages other villagers to do the same. Ulaganathan is embarrassed because his daughter married her cousin without his consent; he hopes Anbu will not do the same and makes him sign a document promising not to do so. Jessica, a British woman born and raised in India, begins working as an English teacher at Anbu’s school. Anbu develops a crush on her. Jessica’s father, Williams, wants to return to England; Boopathy challenges the ownership of his land and discriminates against Williams, stating he is not Indian. Jessica’s student Mahesh scores poorly on a test; the principal is disappointed in Jessica, so Anbu decides to tutor Mahesh, and Mahesh’s grade improves. Jessica notices, and she develops a liking for Anbu. Anbu confesses his love for Jessica; she is initially doubtful but soon reciprocates his feelings. Williams takes his case to the police, but it is withdrawn. Anbu tells his parents about Jessica, who meets them. She states she is from the French Colony of Cambridge. Ulaganathan likes Jessica, and Anbu and Jessica are happy. Anbu starts supporting Williams’s case, telling Boopathy to stop, but Williams still dislikes Anbu. Ulaganathan believed Jessica was French, but when he realised she was British, he disapproved of Anbu’s relationship with her, mainly because the British killed Ulaganthan’s grandfather. At a pub, Anbu and Jessica celebrate Anbu’s friend’s birthday. They inadvertently start celebrating when the defeats , and Boopathy believes they are celebrating India’s defeat. A fight ensues, and Anbu hits Boopathy’s head, which starts bleeding. Williams sees this and realises Anbu is a good man. He invites Anbu for dinner; Anbu learns Williams’ family has lived in India for 50 years. Every year, the school gives Ulaganthan the honour of raising the Indian flag on . This year, he is not allowed because of Anbu’s actions in hitting Boopathy and supporting the British. Ulaganthan wrongly believes Boopathy owns the land. Ulaganathan is angry and waits with some villagers at Williams’ house. Ulaganathan confronts Williams, who wants to talk with Ulaganthan in private. When he tries to guide Ulaganathan into his house, the villagers pull on Williams, causing Ulaganthan to fall into the mud. The villagers spread rumours Williams pushed Ulaganathan into the mud. The villagers assemble in front of Williams’ house and throw rocks at it. Williams decides to return to England with his family. Anbu and his friends start fighting the protesting villagers, but they call the police, and the officers take Anbu and his friends away. The villagers exile Anbu from the village for a week. Jessica goes to Ulaganthan’s house and tells him the truth. On behalf of the , she apologises for ruling them. Ulaganathan and his wife feel pity for Jessica and her family. Anbu makes a speech and is ejected and says patriotism or humanity. The villagers realise their mistake and let Anbu back in. Anbu catches up with Williams, Jessica and their grandmother, who the police pulled over. They all apologise, and Ulaganthan welcomes them back into the village, promising to treat them respectfully, and accepts Anbu’s and Jessica’s relationship. In July 2021, , who made his debut that year with , was reported to join hands with for his next directorial. Production was reportedly set to begin after the actor completed his commitments to (2021), (2022) and (2024); sources claimed that it would be filmed in both the and -languages. On 1 January 2022, the occasion of , the project was officially announced. Tentatively titled , music composer was chosen to compose the score, in his first collaboration with both the actor and director. Producers Suniel Narang, Suresh Babu D and Pushkar Ram Mohan Rao of banners Sree Venkateshwara Cinemas and were revealed to jointly fund the venture. A puja was held on 10 February 2022 with the cast and crew. Though many sources reported the film would be a bilingual Tamil and Telugu production, Sivakarthikeyan said it was filmed only in Tamil. In June 2022, it was announced that the film was titled Sivakarthikeyan reportedly received (US$3.5 million) as remuneration. In February 2022, Ukrainian actress Maria Ryaboshapka was reported to have been cast in the film. The following month, she was confirmed. Ryaboshapka, despite playing a British woman who teaches English, was not fluent in the language, and memorised her dialogues after converting them to the Ukrainian script. commenced on 10 February 2022 with the first schedule in . The first schedule concluded in March and the same month, the team moved to for the second schedule. Ryaboshapka joined the sets in the second schedule. In May 2022, 90 percent of filming was completed; only a song was left to shoot. The final schedule commenced in May 2022 in Pondicherry. Filming in late September following some . composed the music for , it is his first collaboration with Sivakarthikeyan. The first single “Bimbiliki Pilapi” was released on 1 September 2022, the second single “Jessica” was released on 23 September, and the third single “Who Am I?” was released on 14 October. was released on 21 October 2022, three days before . It had been planned for release on 31 August that year but the release was postponed. Streaming rights for the film were sold to , where it began streaming from 25 November 2022. received mixed reviews from critics. rated the film 3.25 stars out of 5 and wrote; “Sivakarthikeyan’s film is a laugh riot and a total paisa vasool”. Arvind V of rated the film 3 stars out of 5 and wrote: “While looked every bit homegrown, looks half-manufactured. This is not to say that the film is unfunny. It has its moments.” Kirubhakar Purushothaman of rated the film 2.5 stars out of 5; according to the reviewer; “Director Anudeep’s brand of comedy is unique and might not be for everyone”. Soundarya Athimuthu of rated the film 2.5 stars out of 5 stars and wrote: “Prince has interesting elements and does make you laugh at times, but just that it feels like a film that would have worked better had it come a few years back when he was still not the big thing he is today. Unfortunately, he has set his bars high”. According to M. Suganth of , who rated the film 2 stars out of 5; “Even Sivakarthikeyan, who turns on the comic persona from his early films that made him a star, is only able to just about keep the film from sinking”. Janani K of rated the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote: ” is a madcap comedy that tries to make the audience laugh throughout its runtime. But, you get only occasional laughs in the latter half.” Priyanka Sundar of rated the film 2 out of 5, calling it a mixed bag and writing; “For those who enjoy the grand comic set-up with momentary payoff, for those who have the patience to relate with such elaborate set up, it is an enjoyable entertainer”. Bharathy Singaravel of rated the film 1 star out of 5 and wrote; “Romance, comedy or reference to colonial history, Telugu director Anudeep KV’s first foray into Kollywood has no grasp of all three”. Lakshmi Subramanian of also rated the film 1 star out of 5 and wrote: “Sivakarthikeyan looks good as always. But the actor fails to deliver the laughs that promised.” Navein Darshan of gave the film’s rating 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote; “The title doesn’t bear much relevance to the actual film, except as a tribute to its star actor”. The film failed at the box office and Sivakarthikeyan agreed to compensate distributors who lost money.</p>