'YEH VAADA RAHA' ('The Promise') (or joining the ranks of my fellow Nigerians)

So finally I qualify as a true Naija ‘born, bred and buttered’ pikin. Yep, I recently saw ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’ (also known as ‘The Promise). Perhaps I should explain. ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’ is arguably one of the most well-known Bollywood movies in Nigeria – definitely one of the top 5 anyway (I blogged about this before, here). I’m sure I was in primary school when I first heard the theme song for the movie and saw people doing the ‘clap-slap’ thing that Vikky and Sunita do in the movie. And I kept hearing about the movie right from primary school in the 80’s, through secondary school and university in the ‘90s, and even today. Nigerians love this movie – and a whole LOT of Nigerians have watched it. If there was to be a poll of Indian movies Nigerians like, it’d be in the top 3 – fo’ sho’.

'Ooh, come here, you little oochie coochie coo'. Vikram and Sunita in the theme song.

Anyway, somehow, I never saw ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’ as a kid. I knew the whole story though, I had been ‘gisted’ about it many times by a lot of my friends. I knew the theme song and the other song (which I like to call ‘La la la la la la la la laaa’) from the movie. I knew the clap-slap thing. I knew all about how Vikky and Sunita fall in love, then Sunita loses her face in an accident and gets a totally new one (I’ve blogged about fake-pretend cures before here – wonder if the people that did ‘Yakeen’ – which I reviewed here – saw ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’ and used it for inspiration. Probably not, I have a feeling the ‘new face’ thing’s been done to death).

'Ji, Sunita, not only has the doctor given you a new face, he's tweezed your eyebrows for you while at it'.

So what do I think about ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’? It is good fun, really. Yes, the story sometimes makes no sense and the plot has more holes in it than a king-sized colander, but for all its silliness, it’s a good film. The acting is good: Rakhee gets to terrify me again as the strict mother – saw her in the more recent ‘Dil Ka Rishta’ and ‘Baadshah’, but liked her more in ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’. The man who plays the miracle-working plastic surgeon is deliciously larger-than-life, and Rishi Kapoor does a very decent job as the romantic lead, Vikram (‘Vikky’) – I really liked him here. The music in the film is lovely, really sweet.

Terrifying, nasty and mean, yet somehow likeable - Rakhee in 'Yeh Vaada Raha'.

As for Sunita, I liked ‘old Sunita’ (Poonam Dhillon) much more than ‘new Sunita’ (Tina Munim) because new Sunita sometimes behaved like a diva chick doing fash-pa in secondary school (that statement can only be totally understood by someone who went to a Nigerian boarding house, anyone else, I could tell you that fash-pa is short for ‘fashion parade’ but you still wouldn’t quite get it, sorry). Despite my very marked preference for Sunita 1 over Sunita 2, both ladies did very well. If Sunita 2’s behaviour was a bit stupid (‘I will give up my love for Vicky so he can get loads of money and enjoy it with his new wife’ – very very slightly romantic maybe, but rather daft), that’s noone’s fault but the scriptwriter’s.

Sunita 1 (Poonam Dhillon) - liked her better than Sunita 2

The flaws in ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’ are many (about a gazillion), but that’s not important. Get into the spirit of this and you'll love it. The oh-so-warm feeling you get from the movie makes up for the fact that, for example, Sunita’s speaking voice changes completely after the accident (although her singing voice – provided by Asha Bhosle - remains the same).

Unlike ‘Teri Meherbaniyan’ (which I reviewed a while ago here - also starring Poonam Dhillion, by the way - and as a random addition, she's also in Sanjay Dutt's '80s classsic, 'Naam'); I totally understand why this film is popular in Nigeria. It’s the ‘Love Nwantinti’ in the film – we dig that kinda stuff. I wish I could interpret ‘Love Nwantinti’ properly (for any non-Nig person reading this)… have to think of another way to express that.

Sunita and Vikky in 'Love Nwantinti'