''The Black Prince'' is a 2017 international

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film directed by

Kavi Raz Kavi Raz (born 1 January 1953) is an Indian-born British actor, writer, director and producer. Born in Punjab, Raz left India at a young age for the United Kingdom, where he grew up. Biography Raz attended university in the San Francisco Bay ar ...

and featuring the acting debut of

Satinder Sartaaj Satinder Pal Singh, popularly known as Satinder Sartaaj, is an Indian singer, songwriter, actor and poet of Punjabi language films and songs. He gained fame with his song "Udaarian". Since then he has performed across the world. He made his fi ...

. It tells the story of

Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (4 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...

, the last

Maharajah Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

and the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

area, and his relationship with

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. The story revolves around the young prince as he attempts both to regain his throne and reconcile himself with the two cultures of his Indian birth and British education.

Plot

After the death of his father,

Maharajah Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

, the previous ruler of the Sikh empire, Maharaja Duleep Singh is placed on the throne at the age of five. In 1849, when

is annexed to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, the young prince is removed from the throne and separated from his mother. He is put under the guardianship of British surgeon Dr. John Login. At the age of 15, Duleep Singh is sent to England where he meets Queen Victoria. A relationship between the two develops. Duleep Singh is eventually able to reestablish contact with his mother and as a result begins to reconnect with the culture of his birth. Duleep attempts to return to India to reclaim his kingdom, but is continually thwarted by British colonial politics.

Cast

Amanda Root Amanda Root (born 1963) is an English stage and screen actress and a former voice actress for children's programmes. Root is known for her starring role in the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's ''Persuasion'', her role in the British ...

Jason Flemyng Jason Iain Flemyng''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 25 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for roles in British films such as ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) ...

as Dr Login *

Ameet Chana Ameet Chana (born 12 September 1975 in Epsom, Surrey, England) is a British-Indian actor. His most notable role is Adi Ferreira in ''EastEnders''. In May 2006 he took over presenting the Breakdown Show (Bhangra Music) on BBC Asian Network (a N ...

as Aziz-Ud-din * Joe Egan as Ishris Reval *

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most ...

as Colonel Hurban *

Madhurima Tuli Madhurima Tuli (born 19 August 1986) is an Indian actress and model. Her works in Hindi television include the fiction dramas '' Kasturi'', '' Parichay'', ''Kumkum Bhagya'', '' Chandrakanta'' and ''Qayamat Ki Raat'' and the reality shows ''Nac ...

as Young Maharani Jinda *

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

as Maharani Jinda *

Keith Duffy Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy (born 1 October 1974) is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mikey ...

as Casey * Kumud Pant as Arur Singh's Protect Soldier *

Atul Sharma Atul Sharma (Born 9 May 1961) is a multiple-award-winning music composer, producer, sitarist, singer and judge on the popular TV show "Voice of Punjab". He is known for being one of the pioneers of Bhangra and Punjabi pop/folk music, and has co ...

as Hotel Manager * Leanne Joyce as Ada Wetherill * James Weber Brown as General

Charles Carroll Tevis Washington Carroll Tevis (February 22, 1829 – September 29, 1900), also known as Charles Carroll Tevis, Nassim Bey and Charles Carroll de Taillevis, was an American-born soldier of fortune who served in a variety of armies and conflicts during ...

* Arinder Sadhra as Mangla *

Lyndon Ogbourne Lyndon Saul Ogbourne (born 18 May 1983) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Nathan Wylde in the ITV1 soap opera '' Emmerdale''. Background Ogbourne began acting at the age of six. He was educated at Commonweal School before stud ...

Sir O Butan * Sandeep Bhojak as Duleep Singh's Protect Soldier * Sophie Stevens as

Bamba Muller Bamba may refer to: Persons * Bamba (actress), Philippine actress * Amadou Bamba, Muslim religious leader and founder of Mouridism * Anderson Bamba, Brazilian footballer Anderson Soares de Oliveira * Jonathan Bamba, French footballer * Mohamed B ...

* Ranjit Singh Shubh as Thakur Singh * Malcolm Freeman as Brigadier General Hogg * Jobanpreet Singh as Herra Singh * Emma Kenny as Lady Login * Tony Hasnath as

Victor Duleep Singh Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh (10 July 1866 – 7 June 1918) was the eldest son of Maharani Bamba Müller and Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of Lahore, and of the Sikh Empire, and the grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Biog ...

* Adeera Brar as

Sophia Duleep Singh Princess Sophia Alexandrovna Duleep Singh (8 August 1876 – 22 August 1948) was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. Her father was Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who had been taken from his kingdom of Punjab to the British Raj, a ...

* Ana Correia as the prince's bride Catherine Duleep Singh * Courtney Sinclair as a Victorian lady

Production

Development

Written and directed by Los Angeles-based Indian filmmaker

, ''The Black Prince'' stars the singer

in his acting debut. On the relationship between Duleep and the Queen, producer Jasjeet Singh noted: "What’s striking is that the British government treated him terribly, but throughout his life, there was a relationship of great fondness between him and Queen Victoria." ''The Black Prince'' was produced by

Brillstein Entertainment Partners Brillstein Entertainment Partners (formerly known as Brillstein/Grey Entertainment and Brillstein/Grey Communications) is a talent management firm and television production company formed by the 1986 addition of Brad Grey to The Brillstein Compan ...

; it is a bilingual English-

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

production. The movie is set in India and the UK.

Music

George Kallis George Kallis is a film and TV composer based in Los Angeles. Life and career Kallis grew up on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where he studied classical piano and violin while also being influenced by world music, heavy metal and jazz. By ...

composed the music for ''The Black Prince''. The lead actor, Sartaaj, also wrote and performed some of the songs appearing in the film

Release

''The Black Prince'' premiered at the Manchester Film Festival on 3 March 2017 and was released worldwide on 21 July 2017. It was also released in two dubbed versions: Punjabi and

Reception

Critical response

''The Black Prince'' has received generally unfavorable reviews, with most critics decrying the slow pacing as letting down the genuinely interesting subject matter, the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' critic said: "The script is sluggish and painfully slow paced." Of the actors,

, playing the prince's mother Rani Jindan, was singled out as one of the better performers. As of March 2018, 8% of the 13 reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes are positive and have an average score of 4.1 out of 10.

Box office

According to

Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray began ...

, ''The Black Prince'' has grossed $633,000 in three territories. The film grossed $194,000 in its opening weekend, with $106,000 earned in the United Kingdom, $8,000 in New Zealand and $80,000 in Australia.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Prince Punjabi-language Indian films 2017 biographical drama films 2010s historical films 2017 films Biographical films about royalty Cultural depictions of Queen Victoria on film Indian historical romance films Films scored by George Kallis Films set in the Sikh Empire Films about Sikhism Ranjit Singh Films set in the British Raj Films set in London Films about royalty 2017 drama films