Arjun: The Warrior Prince

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Arjun: The Warrior Prince
Arjun film poster.jpg
Film Poster
Directed byArnab Chaudhuri
Written byRajesh Devraj
Produced byRonnie Screwvala
Siddharth Roy Kapur
CinematographyHemant Chaturvedi
Edited byA. Sreekar Prasad
Music bySongs:
Vishal-Shekhar
Background Score:
Dhruv Ghanekar[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byUTV Motion Pictures (India)
Walt Disney Pictures (International)
Release date
  • 25 May 2012 (2012-05-25)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Arjun: The Warrior Prince is a 2012 Indian animated action film directed by Arnab Chaudhuri, written by Rajesh Devraj, and produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur under UTV Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures. The film was released in India on 25 May 2012. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures held a week-long limited engagement on 1 September 2012 at the El Capitan Theater[2] to qualify for Academy Awards consideration. However, the film was not nominated.

Plot[]

The story is based on the early life of the Prince Arjuna, loosely taken from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. The storyline begins with Arjun as a nine-year-old boy, and follows him until he grows into the warrior that the world knows him as. It explores his life with his brothers in Hastinapur, his training and education, and his ultimate discovery of the warrior within himself.

The film begins with Uttar, the young prince of Viratnagar (Kingdom of king Virata), asking a maid (Brihannala) to tell him a story. The maid narrates him the story of Arjun.

She tells him that Arjun was a student of Drona, and that he learned the art of warfare from him. He was more skilled than all the students of Drona. None of his own brothers, nor his cousins - the hundred Kauravas - could equal him in the art. Duryodhana and the other Kauravas despised the Pandavas, for they feared that they might usurp Duryodhana's throne. When the king Dhritrashtra grew older, the rivalry between his sons, the Kauravas and the Pandavas intensified. Twice, Duryodhana attempted to kill all the Pandavas, but failed. To avoid further conflict, Dhritrashtra proclaimed Duryodhana as the crown prince of Hastinapur, and asked Yudhishthira to be the king of a distant unkempt territory of the empire.

In the meantime, Arjun won a swayamvar, and married the daughter of the King of Panchala, Draupadi. Duryodhana, who loathed the Pandavas, hatched a conspiracy with his uncle Shakuni and won all that belonged to the Pandavas in a betting game called chaupar. After losing everything, Yudhishthira betted his own brothers and Draupadi, and even himself. Draupadi was insulted in front of everyone, but Arjuna could not say anything because Yudhishthira was the king, and the king's words are the last words. The Pandavas, according to the rules of the game, had to go into exile for twelve years and an agyatavasa for one year. While all the Pandavas go one way, Arjuna travels North to do tapasya. Before leaving, Draupadi makes him promise that he will take revenge for her insult. He then leaves, and does tapasya, during which he earns a bow from the Lord Shiva.

The story then shifts back to the present day Viratnagar. It is revealed that the Pandavas are spending their secret exile, or 'agyatavasa', there, and are noticed by some of the spies of Duryodhana. According to the outcome of the game, if any one of the Pandavas is found before the end of that one year, the Pandavas will have to again go for a twelve-year exile. The spy informs Duryodhana that the Pandavas are in Viratnagar. So he launches an attack on Viratnagar with the help of his bandit friends. The king of Viratnagar leaves to thrash the marauding bandits. However, that is the bait. From the other direction, Duryodhana's army comes, and it seems that the young prince of Viratnagar is the only one who is left to fight.

Uttar's maid drives the young prince's chariot to the field, but the prince, distraught by the number of enemies, flees. The maid stops him, and reveals her true identity: the maid (Brihannala) comes out as Arjun. Arjun retrieves his bow and makes prince Uttar drive his chariot. The warrior massacres the army and emerges victorious, and at last, Arjuna alone defeats all Kaurava warriors, including Bhisma and Drona.

Cast[]

Critical reception[]

India[]

Priyanka Ketkar of Koimoi gave the movie 4 stars out of 5, saying that "Arjun: The Warrior Prince is an extremely engaging movie with fabulous animation.".[3] Martin D'Souza of Glamsham gave the movie 4 stars out of 5, commenting that "If your Sunday mornings were spent in front of the television set two decades ago, this one is definitely for you".[4] Madhureeta Mukherjee of Times Of India gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5, concluding that "Of all the amateurish animation films we've seen, this one's a 'God-send'".[5] Blessy Chettiar of DNA India gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, stating "Let your children absorb the story, while you can marvel at this step forward for the Indian animation film industry. It’s a great way to have fun while you learn." Mansha Rastogi of Now Running gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, saying that "This movie inspires how an ordinary human being can rise from nothing to being the greatest warriors of all time.However only positive side of the character is shown in the movie whereas the negativity was completely eliminated.The presence of Karna and Krishna was also felt in the story."[6] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, concluding that "I'm going to with three out of five for Arjun: The Warrior Prince. Like its hero, the film too is a valiant effort, and an interesting interpretation of a much-loved mythological story. Worth a watch".[7] Preeti Arora of Rediff gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, saying that "Being an animated film, Arjun is sure to find a connect with children."It is also a great outing for someone who wishes to walk down nostalgia lane with their favourite tales of the good old days".[8] Ananya Bhattacharya of Zee News gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, concluding that "The film's animation is incredibly awesome and is quiet gripping for the viewers but the storyline was 'not real'. Throughout the movie, you will see shades of life of Rama and Karna and the warrior Arjuna is portrayed as Rama who is fighting without the boons but in the actual epic, Arjuna received lots of boons for his protection. Throughout the movie you will get reminded of Karna and Rama as in the 'Mahabharata' and Ramayana,we have seen them performing godly feats and that without boons."[9] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, saying "On the whole, Arjun: The Warrior Prince needs to be watched for its animation, for its storytelling and most importantly, it makes an earnest effort to relive the mythology."[10] Aakanksha Naval-Shetye and Chaya Unnikrishnan of DNA India gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, saying that "Director Arnab Chaudhari has kept the narrative fast paced. A nice way of introducing kids to the epic tale".[11] Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times gave the movie 3 stars out of 5, concluding that Arjun: The Warrior Prince is a step forward for Indian animation. I only wish the storytelling itself had been more real and authentic and should portray the real Arjuna. The storyline is completely based on Rama's character. The central character of Mahabharata,Karna who was the nemesis of Arjuna was not even shown.Karna's character has been added with Arjuna and alone Arjuna in the movie behaves as Karna,Rama and Arjuna."[12] The Hindu gives it a 4, and says "A world class show with a good old Indian touch".[13] Suparna Sharma of the Deccan Chronicle gives it 4 stars out of 5, and says "I really hope there will be a part two of Arjun because this story is really worth telling and Arnab Chaudhuri and his team tell it really well".[14]

International[]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 67% based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 5.68/10.[15] Lou Lumenick of New York Post in his negative review of the film, wrote: "Even though the title character vaguely resembles Disney's Tarzan, nobody is going to mistake the less-than-state-of-the-art, computer-game-style 2-D animation for the work of the American parent, much less its Pixar subsidiary".[16] Robert Abele of Los Angeles Times gave the film 3 out of 5 stars stating "The animation is at times stiff and presentational, like a rushed rotoscoping job, but there's a charming majesty to the enterprise".[17] The film got positive response at Annecy International Animated Film Festival, where it was nominated for Cristal Award the top prize of the festival.[18]

Awards[]

Year Name of Competition\Award Category Result Recipient(s)/Nominee(s)
2013 FICCI BAF Awards Best Indian Animated Feature Film[Theatrical Release] Won Tata Elxsi[19]
2013 Annecy International Animated Film Festival Cristal Award for Best Film Nominated Arnab Chaudhuri[18]

Soundtrack[]

Distributed and released by Walt Disney Records and UTV Music, the soundtrack of Arjun: The Warrior Prince is composed by Vishal-Shekhar with lyrics by Piyush Mishra, while Dhruv Ghanekar composed the background score.

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Daanav"Vishal Dadlani & Shankar Mahadevan 
2."Karam Ki Talwar"Sukhwinder Singh 
3."Manva"Swanand Kirkire, Shreya Ghoshal, Piyush Mishra & Raja Hasan 
4."Kabhi Na Dekhe Hastinapur Mein"Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shubha Mudgal & Ila Arun 
5."Samay"Shekhar Ravjiani & Hemant Brijwasi 
6."Khandav"Keerthi Sagathia 

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Disney's "Arjun" opens in Hollywood". 2 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  3. ^ "Arjun: The Warrior Prince Review". Koimoi.com. 25 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  4. ^ "Arjun - The Warrior Prince Movie Review". Glamsham.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Arjun: The Warrior Prince". The Times of India. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Arjun Review". Nowrunning.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  7. ^ "Masand: 'Arjun: The Warrior Prince' is a valiant effort". BDnaindia.com. 25 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Arjun: The Warrior Prince is a must watch". Rediff.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  9. ^ "Review: 'Arjun - The Warrior Prince' is thoroughly delightful!". Zeenews.india.com. December 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  10. ^ "Arjun, The Warrior Prince". Hollywoodhungama.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  11. ^ "The After hrs review: Arjun: The Warrior A nice epic tale". Daily News and Analysis. 26 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  12. ^ "Anupama Chopra's review: Arjun, The Warrior Prince". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  13. ^ Anuj Kumar (28 May 2012). "A world-class show with good old Indian touch". The Hindu. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  14. ^ [1] Archived 30 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes Arjun: The Warrior Prince Review". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Arjun: The Warrior Prince". 25 May 2012.
  17. ^ Abele, Robert (25 May 2012). "Film Review: Hero's tale 'Arjun' is charming". Los Angeles Times.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b "Arjun: The Warrior Prince Nominated for Annecy Cristal Award 2013". Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  19. ^ "FICCI BAF AWARDS 2012 - WINNERS" (PDF). Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2013.

External links[]

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