Pardes (1997 film)

Pardes (transl. Foreign land) is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Subhash Ghai under his banner Mukta Arts. It stars Shah Rukh Khan, and newcomers Mahima Chaudhry and Apurva Agnihotri in lead roles, with Alok Nath, Amrish Puri and Himani Shivpuri in supporting roles. The film was shot at various locations in the United States (Los Angeles, Las Vegas), Canada (British Columbia, including Vancouver) and India (Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, including Agra).

Pardes theatrically released in India on 8 August 1997. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise for its soundtrack and Khan, Chaudhry, and Agnihotri's performances; however its story and screenplay received criticism. It grossed over ₹409 million (US$4.8 million) worldwide, emerging as a commercial success at the box-office, ranking as the fourth highest-grossing film of the year, behind Dil To Pagal Hai (also starring Khan), Border, and Ishq.

At the 43rd Filmfare Awards, Pardes received 12 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Ghai) and Best Actress (Chaudhry), and won 3 awards – Best Female Debut (Chaudhry), Best Female Playback Singer (Alka Yagnik for "Meri Mehbooba") and Best Screenplay (Ghai).

The film was remade in Telugu as Pelli Kanuka (1998) starring Jagapati Babu, Lakshmi & Banumathi Ramakrishna. It was released on the eve of celebration of 50th anniversary of the Indian independence.

Kishori Lal, an Indian-American businessman, wants his son, Rajeev, to marry his best friend's daughter, Ganga. Born and raised entirely in India, he believes Ganga can help ‘Indian-ise’ Rajeev, who as a second-generation American, knows nothing about the traditional family values of his father’s home country. A meeting is arranged in Ganga’s village, and Kishori sends Rajeev, along with his adopted son, Arjun, to stay with Ganga’s family. Like Kishori, Arjun is a first-generation immigrant. He helps manage the family chaos surrounding Rajeev’s visit, enabling Rajeev and Ganga to spend time getting to know each other. Finally, after weeks of talking, Rajeev and Ganga agree to get married. They are engaged in the village, and Ganga flies to the US with Rajeev.

In the US, Arjun becomes Ganga’s sole confidante, as she deals with culture shock and frequent jabs aimed at her Indian-ness. Rajeev shows a different side of himself, including his excessive smoking and drinking habits, entitled behaviour and continued association with numerous ex-girlfriends. Ganga questions her decision to marry him, while blaming Arjun for deceiving her about Rajeev’s true character. When Arjun tries to warn Rajeev, his efforts are construed as interference and Kishori sends Arjun away on a business trip, 'for his career'. Meanwhile, Rajeev and Ganga take their first solo trip together to Las Vegas.

After a day of sightseeing, Rajeev and Ganga are alone in her hotel room at night, where they argue over Ganga’s insistence on abstaining until marriage. The argument soon escalates into a physical fight, ending with Rajeev overpowering Ganga on the floor. He tries to force himself upon her, but Ganga manages to knock him out with a lamp. She runs away from the hotel, and is found by Arjun at a train station, attempting to leave the city. Arjun escorts Ganga back home to her family in India. In the village, Arjun and Ganga are accused of having eloped behind Rajeev’s back. Arjun is removed from Ganga's house, and is intercepted by Rajeev's goons on his way out of town.

Arjun and Rajeev fight unto death, but Kishori intervenes in time. He demands to know why Arjun betrayed him, but Ganga shows everyone the marks on her neck, which prove that Rajeev tried to physically abuse her in Vegas. A stunned Kishori orders Rajeev back to the US. Arjun's reputation restored, he is given Ganga's hand in marriage, as the two have also grown to like each other. As end credits roll, Ganga and Arjun are back in the US, but this time as a married couple.

• Shahrukh Khan as Arjun Saagar, Kishorilal's foster son.
• Mahima Chaudhry as Kusum Ganga
• Apurva Agnihotri as Rajiv, Kishorilal's biological son.
• Amrish Puri as Kishorilal, Arjun's foster and Rajiv's biological father.
• Alok Nath as Suraj Dev, Ganga's father.
• Padmavati Rao as Narmada
• Dina Pathak as Dadi Maa
• Himani Shivpuri as Kulwanti
• Madhuri Bhatia as Neeta Sandiplal, Arjun's foster aunt.
• Smita Jaykar as Padma
• Pavan Malhotra as Sharafat Ali
• Prachi Save Saathi as Daksha
• Aditya Narayan as Potla
• Ajay Nagrath as Dabboo
• Samta Sagar as Sonali Shahi
• Subhash Ghai as singer in a boat.
• Remo D'Souza as background dancer in the song "Meri Mehbooba" (uncredited)
• Rakesh Thareja as Shekhar Paul, Rajiv's friend.
• Ruhshad Nariman Daruwalla as Vikrant Pathak, Potla's friend.
• Akash as Karnataki
• Richa Anderson as Kelly, Rajiv's ex-girlfriend.
• Sukhwinder Singh Chahal as Ramu
• Deepak Qazir as Amirchand
• Vinod Raut as Garibchand
• Anand Balraj as Manuchand

Ghai wanted A. R. Rahman to compose the music of this film, but he was too expensive and didn't fit the budget of the film.^[2] However, they collaborated on Ghai's next, Taal (1999). The soundtrack of Pardes was then composed by Nadeem–Shravan and the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi. The song "I Love My India" is composed in Raag Bairagi Bhairav (known as Revati in Carnatic Music). For their work, Nadeem–Shravan received a Filmfare Award for Best Music Director nomination and won a Screen Award for Best Music Director. This was the only album where K.S. Chithra sung a Hindi song for Nadeem–Shravan.

Track list

Planet Bollywood started their review by saying, "The music of Pardes is one of Nadeem-Shravan's best ever."

Pardes grossed ₹34.83 crore in India and $1.7 million (₹6.12 crore) overseas, for a worldwide total of ₹40.95 crore ($11.4 million), against its ₹10 crore budget. It had a worldwide opening weekend of ₹3.4 crore, and grossed ₹6.19 crore in its first week.^[3] It is the 4th-highest-grossing film of 1997 in India.^[4]

It opened on Friday, August 8, 1997, across 210 screens, and earned ₹61 lakh nett on its opening day. It grossed ₹2 crore nett in its opening weekend, and had a first week of ₹3.64 crore nett. The film earned a total of ₹22.83 crore nett, and was declared a "super-hit" by Box Office India.^[3] It is the 4th highest-grossing film of 1997 in India.^[5]

It earned $1.7 million (₹6.12 crore in 1997) outside India.^[3] Overseas, it is the 2nd highest-grossing film of 1997 after Dil To Pagal Hai, which grossed $3.3 million (₹12.04 crore in 1997).^[6]

Pardes received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. Praise was given to the music and the cast's performances; however the story and screenplay of the film received criticism.^[7][8][9]

India Today cites it as one of the first major Bollywood pictures to succeed in the United States.^[10]

In their book, New Cosmopolitanisms: South Asians in the US, Gita Rajan and Shailja Sharma view the film as a dichotomous depiction of the good NRI versus bad NRI, with Khan depicting the good immigrant, who assists the rowdy Indian American playboy Rajiv (Apurva Agnihotri), the bad. Khan's character of Arjun is perceived as a metaphor for cosmopolitanism or Indian cultural nationalism in the wider sense, in direct contrast to Rajiv who represents wealthy Westernization and all its negative vices and connotations.^[11]

Bibliography

• Sharma, Edited by Gita Rajan and Shailja; Rajan, Gita (2006). New Cosmopolitanisms: South Asians in the US. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-6784-2. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)

• Pardes at IMDb