Prince and Family movie review: Attempts to whitewash Dileep are plenty in this otherwise decent comedy drama

That’s when it hit me; I am watching a Dileep movie. And this was nothing more than a forcefully introduced meta-dialogue, a veiled reference to the purported “media trial” his fans claim he has been facing. In fact, the movie has slipped in such dialogues more than once, seemingly to spread a favourable narrative about the Malayalam actor, accused of masterminding the sexual assault of a fellow actor in 2017.

However, it seems debutant director Binto Stephen has finally managed to achieve what several filmmakers have been trying with every ounce of their energy but completely falling flat with – make a decent Dileep film. Even amidst many shortcomings, Prince and Family is significantly better than many of the actor’s recent bombs.

Among Baby (Siddique) and Jancy Chakkalakkal’s (Bindu Panicker) three sons – Prince, Jince (Dhyan Sreenivasan) and Shince (Josekutty Jacob) – the eldest, Prince, is not just the most responsible but also the one who runs the household with his bridal boutique. Yet, unlike his brothers, he is unsuccessful in finding love or a partner and, despite hitting middle age, is still unmarried. With Jince also gearing up to get married, after Shince already beat his elder siblings to it by tying the knot at a younger age and now expecting his second child, Prince is in low spirits. It’s not just out of angst that he might never find love, but also due to the looming fear of skyrocketing domestic expenses, to which his siblings contribute almost nothing.

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Meanwhile, a wedding proposal of a 24-year-old woman, Chinju Elsa Rani (Raniya Raanaa), comes knocking on Prince’s door, much to his delight. However, he soon starts wondering why such a young woman would agree to tying the knot with him. But before he can properly get to know her and make a sound decision, Prince gets ‘entangled’ in the proposal, and by the time he realises she’s his polar opposite, they’re already married. However, this is just the beginning of Prince’s troubles as his life begins to spiral out of control once they start living together as husband and wife.

Unlike his many recent bombs, Prince and Family mostly refrains from trying to resurrect the ‘vintage Dileep’. Not just that Binto doesn’t make the 57-year-old actor do extreme slapstick and physical comedy – once his trademark but now a stretch given his age – but the director also never forces him to bite off more than he can chew, particularly in emotional moments. From the very beginning, Binto demonstrates that he has successfully captured the actor’s current essence, and he works with just that without setting him up for failure.

In a very slice-of-life manner, writer Sharis Mohammed introduces Prince and his family and their fun little world. In contrast to his previous movie Malayalee from India (2024), where both comedy and emotions were forced into random moments, Sharis ensures here that the humour evolves naturally from even mundane moments, and he succeeds in this to an extent. Instead of making Dileep resort to hackneyed techniques such as malapropism and spoonerism, the writer turns to the interactions and dynamics between various characters for comedy, which works in the movie’s favour at times. This, combined with the organic manner in which the story unfolds in the first half, helps Dileep ease into the character, and soon, it feels as though he is the right fit for the role of Prince. His interactions, particularly with his parents, KK and Safiya (Manju Pillai), help build his character well and establish their relationships and the movie’s world too.

However, Chinju’s arrival marks a turning point in the film, shifting its tone as Prince struggles to adapt to her high-profile life as a daily vlogging social media influencer. As the focus shifts to his attempts to fit into her world, Prince and Family gradually evolves into a drama, with emotions coming into play when Chinju begins to lose her trending status online. As tragedies start to affect their lives, the film moves deeper into the emotional drama zone, ultimately offering a complete experience for the average viewer.

Although the movie doesn’t feature as many problematic themes and double-meaning jokes typical of Dileep films, Prince and Family is definitely not devoid of them. From Prince referring to women (specifically his potential brides) as “products” and showing interest only in women half his age, to rejecting someone simply because she’s middle-aged (likely around his own age) and pretending that he is the sole victim when problems arise in his family life due to his inability to understand Chinju’s lifestyle and ambitions, the movie offers plenty of moments that will make viewers facepalm. The biggest among all is the way in which Prince has been portrayed as helpless when issues crop up between him and Chinju, despite being the one who was running behind significantly younger women for a life partner. Ever heard of generation gap, uncle? Should have, then could have avoided all the issues.

With worn-out jokes on snoring and people’s pregnancies, there are quite a few points where Prince and Family tries too much. At the same time, much like in Malayalee from India, Sharis’ tendency to craft moments, characters and incidents based on superficial social media generalisations is evident here as well, particularly in the portrayal of the “subscriber-hungry” Chinju, whose one-dimensional characterisation feels as though it was written by a boomer with nothing but contempt for the younger generation.

Not only does he deliver a decent performance in Prince and Family, but there are moments where Dileep truly shines. (Credit: Instagram/@magicframes2011)

As mentioned in the beginning, the movie makes quite a few attempts to whitewash Dileep and present him as a person with a ‘golden heart’. At the very start, we are shown a montage featuring some of the actor’s most famous characters with the iconic melody “Therirangum Mukile” playing in the background. Considering the special place this song holds in the hearts of Malayalees, the choice of exactly this track from the many in his repertoire highlights that this was a planned move to make the nostalgic feel a bit of sympathy for Dileep. Similarly, Prince and Family also features a dialogue along the lines of “people only wish to believe what they hear first and not the exact truth”. Through this, the makers also indirectly claim that whatever we heard of Dileep and the case he is accused of needn’t be true. However, Binto Stephen has managed to cleverly mask such blatant whitewashing with his filmmaking skills. That’s also the power of cinema; when a movie is good, the chances of its propaganda working are much higher.

At the same time, although the manner in which Chinju’s social media persona is presented is quite amateurish, the filmmaker manages to stay honest to the narrative for the most part. Despite Sharis creating a slew of one-dimensional characters that lack arc and substance, Binto succeeds in keeping the movie afloat mostly. Renadive’s cinematography, Sagar Dass’ editing, Sanal Dev’s music, Sameera Saneesh and Venki’s (for Dileep) costumes and Rahim Kodungallur’s makeup also deserve recognition.

It’s genuinely surprising when, in his film, Dileep isn’t the one guilty of the most overacting. In fact, not only does he deliver a decent performance in Prince and Family, but there are moments where he truly shines. Raniya Raanaa’s performance, on the other hand, feels over-the-top and juvenile, largely due to the director and writer’s skewed perception of social media influencers. While Bindu Panicker, Siddique and Manju Pillai handle their roles effectively, Urvashi also leaves an impression in her insignificant cameo. Interestingly, Dileep and Dhyan Sreenivasan share a surprisingly strong on-screen chemistry.

Prince and Family movie cast: Dileep, Raniya Raanaa, Bindu Panicker, Siddique, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Manju Pillai, Urvashi, Johny Antony, Josekutty Jacob
Prince and Family movie director: Binto Stephen
Prince and Family movie rating: 2.5 stars