Film: Vaada Raha…. I Promise
Cast: Bobby Deol, Kangana Ranaut and Dwij Yadav
Director: Samir Karnik
Rating: **

Think ‘inhe davaa ki nahi, dua ki zaroorat hai’, the dialogue you may have heard in movies in the 60s. Vaada Raha - I Promise (yes, the ‘I Promise’ is part of the title too) may not have those exact dialogues but it reminds you of those golden oldies you’ve enjoyed, but which don’t quite ring a bell in today.

The one in the need of dua here is Duke (Bobby Deol), in a role which would have been ideal for Rajendra ‘Jubilee’ Kumar in the good ol’ days. A doctor on the brink of his biggest achievement—heading a research funded by the American Medical Association, to find a cure for cancer of the bone marrow.

Duke is the man who has it all: success, fame and love (in the form of Kangana Ranaut). He is being honoured by the association in a room where four gora junior artistes sit behind Duke and nod even though he talks in Hindi.

Later while driving home, he meets with an accident and is paralysed below the neck. He’s taken to ‘East West Hospital’, which has the exterior of a New York skyscraper, but from inside looks like a set erected at a Goregaon studio.

Everyone here’s happy for no real reason, except for the head doctor who maintains a strict vigil and frowns at the littlest of things. Munnabhai, anyone?

There is one actually. Munna here happens to be a little kid Roshan (Dwij Yadav), a patient who “spreads the light of happiness wherever he goes.” Duke is bitter after lady love dumps him after the accident. He finds a friend in little Roshan, who tells him everything that’s happening outside his hospital room (“My world”, Duke says at one point). Roshan gives him hope and Duke gets better. Oh by the way, what’s Roshan doing in the hospital? Well, his sister has bone-marrow cancer.

So Duke restarts his research with gusto, poring over books all of which have the same title - Cancer Research Book. What happens in the end is predictable, in spite of the ‘twist’.

Although you have to give it to director Samir Karnik for attempting an interesting plot (which is based on a Russian fable, by the way), it’s the treatment that leaves you disappointed. Why would Duke, who’s bedridden through most of the film, be suddenly shown breaking into a dance even if it’s in a dream sequence! And why is he called Duke in the first place!

Except for the obvious talent of child actor Dwij Yadav and a few good moments, you don’t take back much from Vaada Raha - I Promise.