The Black Prince

2017 • 120 minutes

About this movie

The last King of Punjab, Maharajah Duleep Singh's kingdom was one of the most powerful and prosperous kingdoms of the 19th century before it was annexed by Britain. Placed on the throne at the age of five, he was robbed of his legacy by treason at the hands of trusted courtiers. He was then torn away from his mother and taken to England by the British at the age of fifteen. While in England, he was introduced to Queen Victoria, who took an immediate liking to him, calling him The Black Prince. Meeting his mother again after thirteen years, the Maharajah is awakened to the realities of his former life in Punjab. He then begins the arduous journey to regain all that was lost, and re-embrace the faith of his birth, Sikhism. As the character of Maharajah Duleep Singh evolves, is torn between two contrasting cultures - his royal ancestry from the Kingdom of Punjab as its last King, set against his upbringing in the UK as he embarks in a new journey of exile, away from his mother. Duleep Singh's lifelong journey to regain his identity, dignity, and Kingdom took him across the world but his struggle was not met with success. He never won the chance to set foot again in his own land of Punjab.(CBFC/DIL/2/63/2017-MUM)

Ratings and reviews

Slow, boring and tedious. Didn't realise it had subtitles but actually there are very big, easily readable subtitles when English is being spoken aimed at the deaf I think because it even put description of random sounds. Then when the subtitles came for indian speach the white print was tiny and mostly unreadable. Because 70% of the film was in Hindi, that meant I lost most of the story because I could only read about a third of the Hindi subtitles. My tv is reasonable size so film would be useless on a small screen. I resorted to watching on zoom but that was no better. After fighting sleep through boredom we gave up half way through. Don't bother with this unless you use binoculars and maybe are hard of hearing.

Based on historic documents this movie is bio-pic of Maharaja Duleep Singh which presents him from his own eyes. Many complex issues are tackled sensitively and skillfully. Locations, music and acting is as good as it could be. For those having interest in subject it's worth watch.

This is not just a movie but pure sikh history, i dont care if some people think its not made properly but for me it is the best movie made...only people who r thinking its low budget are the ones who dont know about rich sikh history.