Pardes (film)

A rich NRI businessman, Kishorilal, is looking for an Indian bride who will also be a good influence on his wayward westernised son, Rajiv. On a visit to India, he is impressed with his friend's daughter, Ganga, in whom he sees all the qualities that he hopes to instil in his son.

He decides to orchestrate their match - he first sends his foster son, Arjun, to "prepare" Ganga's family, and then sends his son Rajiv to India a week later. Despite initial setbacks owing to their cultural differences, Rajiv and Ganga approve of each other. They are engaged in the village and Ganga flies to the US with Rajiv to get accustomed to American life.

Everything changes almost immediately for Ganga as soon as she lands in the US. She learns that the rest of Kishorilal's family is not so keen on the match, many openly expressing their disapproval of Ganga. She also realizes that Rajiv is not the same person in the US as the one who visited her house in India. Among other things, she discovers his excesses, temper, and secrets of his past affairs. Arjun is the only person she can confide in, though she partly blames him for her situation (having presented an idealized picture of Rajiv before her engagement).

To stop any growing closeness between Arjun and Ganga, Kishorilal is urged by his family to relocate him. He also arranges for Rajiv and Ganga to take a trip together to Las Vegas. Things come to a head, however, when a drunk Rajiv insists Ganga have sex with him in their hotel in Vegas. When she refuses (wanting to wait for marriage), Rajiv tries to assault her. Ganga injures him and manages to escape, before being tracked down by Arjun. She calls off the engagement and has Arjun escort her back to India.

Meanwhile, unaware of the incident at the Vegas hotel, everyone concludes that Arjun and Ganga are in love and have eloped. This is partially true since Arjun and Ganga are really in love, though Arjun will not confess out of respect for Kishorilal and deference to Ganga's engagement with Rajiv. Finally, he is made to accept when Kishorilal arrives in India and demands an explanation. Ganga shows everyone the marks inflicted on her shoulder by Rajiv in Vegas, leading Kishorilal to slap his son. Abandoning any hope of correcting him, he orders him to return to the US. He then announces that Ganga will also return to the US, though this time as Arjun's bride.

A credits montage shows Arjun and Ganga living a happy married life in the US.

• Shah Rukh Khan as Arjun Sagar, Kishorilal's foster son who is also a talented singer.
• Mahima Chaudhry as Kusum Ganga/Ganga Arjun Sagar, a.k.a.Ganga Rajiv's fiancee to be who falls in love with Arjun,Arjun's wife.
• Amrish Puri as Kishorilal a wealthy businessman who lives in America.
• Apurva Agnihotri as Rajiv, Kishorilal's son and Arjun's foster brother.
• Alok Nath as Suraj Dev, Ganga's father
• Padmavati Rao as Narmada, wife of Suraj Dev
• Dina Pathak as Suraj's mother
• Himani Shivpuri as Kulwanti
• Madhuri Bhatia as Neeta, Rajiv's aunt who despises Ganga.
• Smita Jaykar as Paddy
• Pawan Malhotra as Sharafat Ali
• Prachi Save as Daksha
• Aditya Narayan as Potla (Ganga's little brother)
• Ajay Nagrath as Daboo (Ganga's little brother)
• Samta Sagar as Sonali
• Subhash Ghai as Singer on the boat (special appearance)
• Remo D'Souza as Arjun's Friend (Meri Mehbooba Song)
• Rakesh Thareja as Paul (Rajiv's friend)
• Ruhshad Nariman Daruwalla (Potla's friend)

The soundtrack was composed by Nadeem-Shravan and the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi. Music directors Nadeem-Shravan received a Filmfare nomination for the album and won a Star Screen Award for Best Music Director.

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.

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.[1] It is the 4th-highest-grossing film of 1997 worldwide.[3]

Pardes received mixed reviews from critics. Praise was given to the music, however aspects of the script were criticised.[6][7][8]

India Today cites it as one of the first major Bollywood pictures to succeed in the United States.[9]

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.[10]

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.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

• Pardes at IMDb