Prem Ratan Dhan Payo = The Prisoner of Zenda?

This one you probably never saw coming! Salman Khan-starrer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is, in all likelihood, the Bollywood adaptation of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda. The adventure novel first captured public imagination upon its release in 1894, making it to the big screen three times — in 1937, 1952 and 1979.

PRDP, due to release this Diwali, looks starkly similar to TPOZ's central premise — a prince being replaced by a lookalike (a relative) who stands in for him as a half-brother conspires to take over the throne for himself. The prince's look-alike has to pretend to be the king till the real prince is rescued.

With the trailer of PRDP and now three songs out, audiences are still clueless what the movie is all about. Well, here it is: Salman plays the prince Vijay, who loves his family (sister and brother Niranjan, played by Swara Bhaskar and Neil Nitin Mukesh) as well as the lookalike Prem. Anupam Kher's character switches the two to save Vijay from the conniving Niranjan. Prem falls for Maithili (Sonam Kapoor). Vijay's sister (Swara Bhaskar) initially supports Neil but towards the end, she reveals his plans and helps Prem rescue Vijay. Following that, is the ultimate climax, filled with action and sword-fighting, where Vijay finally defeats Niranjan. The story might be tweaked in places and desi-fied, but the original idea remains the same. Guess the cat's finally out of the bag, eh?