Pardes (Devanagari: परदेस, Nastaliq: پردیس English: "Foreign Land") is a Bollywood movie directed by Subhash Ghai, it was released on 8 August 1997. The film stars Shahrukh Khan, Amrish Puri, Alok Nath and newcomers Mahima Chaudhry and Apurva Agnihotri.

[edit] Synopsis

Pardes, meaning "foreign land", is a story that revolves around Ganga (Mahima Chaudhary). She is a young Indian girl living in a rural village, and is brought up by her conservative Indian family.

Kishorilal (Amrish Puri) is a wealthy and successful businessman who lives in Los Angeles, America but is still deeply attached to his motherland India and adores the values and culture of India. On a visit to India, he meets his old friend Suraj Dev (Alok Nath) and stays at their house. During his stay he gets to know Suraj Dev's family and becomes very attached to Ganga, Dev's eldest daughter who is the epitome of Indian culture.

He hopes to find an Indian girl for his westernized, American son, Rajiv (Agnihotri) and feels that Ganga is just right. He offers a marriage proposal between Ganga and Rajiv and Dev's family accept. But he knows he will have a tough time trying to convince his son Rajiv who has never even visited India.

But Kishorilal has a plan. He sends his foster son, Arjun (Shahrukh Khan) - 'Little Master' to play cupid and convince Rajiv to visit India and meet and approve of Ganga. Arjun arrives at Dev's house and makes changes and arrangements to make the place suitable for Rajiv. Rajiv joins him in a few days and initially does not like the idea. Arjun spends many days trying to get Ganga and Rajiv to like each other and in the process becomes a close friend of Ganga. Eventually Rajiv and Ganga both agree to the wedding.

The engagement is set in India with the wedding in America. Ganga leaves for America with her new family and is very excited about going 'Pardes'. In her new surroundings, her only friend and confidant is Arjun who she begins to form a special bond with. At first everything seems ok but as time goes on she realises that Rajiv really isn't the person Arjun portrayed to her while they were in India. She faces many culture shocks when she sees Rajiv smoking, drinking and also finds out that he has had affairs and sexual relations in the past and is still seeing his former girlfriend. She confronts Arjun about why he lied to her, and he realises that he has fallen in love with her.

Rajiv's family member notices the closeness between Ganga and Arjun and warns Kishorilal. He tells Arjun to leave the city. Ganga, now alone, goes on a trip to Las Vegas with Rajiv. She misses Arjun and his companionship, but tries to get on with Rajiv. One night, in a drunken state Rajiv tries to rape Ganga, she manages to knock him unconscious and runs away. Arjun, finds out Ganga is missing and looks for her. He finds her at a train station crying her eyes out and her clothes torn, she explains that Rajiv tried to rape her.

He promises to protect her and help her get back to India, back to her family.

Suraj Dev is misinformed with the circumstances in which Arjun brought Ganga to India. Believing Arjun ran away with Ganga, he tries to kill him. Suraj Dev mistrusts his daughter and she is locked up in a shed. She realises that she is in love with Arjun. By this time Kishorilal has come to India. Rajiv comes as well and is ready to kill Arjun and take Ganga back to America. Everyone is against them.

How Ganga and Arjun realize their love for each other, and manage to convince everyone that their love is pure, is the remainder of the story.

Pardes was a hit in India and overseas. During the 1990s, there was a trend of NRI men looking for young Indian girls to marry, and this film brought to light the culture shock and difficulties that may be involved in such cases.

[edit] Cast

• Shahrukh Khan ... Arjun Saagar
• Amrish Puri ... Kishorilal
• Mahima Chaudhry ... Kusum Ganga
• Apurva Agnihotri ... Rajiv
• Alok Nath ... Suraj Dev
• Dina Pathak ... Suraj's mom
• Himani Shivpuri ... Kulwanti
• Madhuri Bhatia ... Neeta
• Richa Pallod
• Aditya Narayan ... Child actor

[edit] Soundtrack

The Soundtrack was a chartbuster and remained on top for many years. Considered to be a masterpiece by composer duo Nadeem Shravan

Music director: Nadeem Shravan

Music Label: Tips Music Films

Lyricist: Anand Bakshi

Song List and Singers:

• Deewana Dil - Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Hema Sardesai
• Do Dil Mil Rahe Hain - Kumar Sanu
• I Love India - Hariharan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shankar Mahadevan, Aditya Narayan
• I Love India (Part 2) - Kavita Krishnamurthy
• Jahan Piya Wahan Main - Shankar Mahadevan, Chitra
• Meri Mehbooba - Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik
• My First Day in USA - Hema Sardesai
• Nahin Hona Tha - Alka Yagnik, Hema Sardesai, Udit Narayan, Sabri Bros.(Jaipuri)
• Title Music - Sapna Awasthi

[edit] Trivia

• Mahima Chaudhry won the Filmfare Best Debut Award for her performance.
• Madhuri Dixit was considered for the lead role, as was Juhi Chawla.
• Mahima's real name is Ritu Chaudhry, but due to superstition, Subhash Ghai made her change her name so it begins with an M. He considered M to be lucky for him as he also launched Meenakshi Seshadri, Madhuri Dixit and Manisha Koirala.
• The film was shot in India, the United States and Vancouver (Canada) portrayed as Los Angeles.
• Subhash Ghai has a special appearance in a boat scene in the film.

[edit] External links

• Pardes at the Internet Movie Database