Pardes (1997)

Kishorilal (Amrish Puri) is a successful business man in California and is visiting his friend Suraj Dev (Alok Nath) in India. He sees Ganga, Suraj Dev's daughter and decides that she will make a good bride for his son Rajiv (Apoorva). There is a good song 'I love my India' at that time of the story.

Kishorilal sends his son Rajiv to India to meet Ganga. He also sends Arjun (Shahrukh Khan) with him. Arjun had been orphaned at a young age and Kishorilal took care of him. Later Ganga gets engaged to Rajiv and flys to USA for a month after which marriage was supposed to take place. But Ganga finds Arjun to be a better person than Rajiv and like a typical Hindi movie we have the hero, heroine and the villain. There is another good slow song 'Do dil, mil rahe hai. Magar Chupke Chupke.'

The story had lot of weaknesses. Like Ganga sees a Cobra in Rajiv's bedroom and starts to pray to the snake! I don't think that is a normal behaviour. My wife screams to glory when she sees a cockroach.

Also Arjun's role was quite conveniently changed from a part of kishorilal's family to that of a servant latter in the movie. Ganga had suspicions about Rajiv's character because he smoked! Millions smoke in India. Rajiv was shown to have girlfriends whereas Arjun had none. And Arjun was the musical type, strumming his guitar and singing and still is single. Visas are easily available to Ganga and her aunt. There is a police commissioner in California! Rajiv's role is another puzzling part. He is shown to want Ganga but behaves horridly with her.

So the story had lot of holes which is expected of hindi movies. Subhash Ghai did not spend enough time with the movie to think it through. He, I think got couple of songs written and weaved the movie around it.

Fmovies: Mahima Choudhary acted very well considering that it was her first film. Overall a good family movie without violence and sex for a change.

Pardes is very long and a touch predictable. Still, it's not a bad watch and could have been a good film with better editing. Shahrukh gives an uncharacteristically restrained performance, although he does go over the top towards the end. Mahima is charming but overdoes the cuteness. Amrish Puri is solid as usual. Apoorva Agnihotri is weak. The songs are great. I specially liked the gentle "Do Dil Mil Rahen Hain". The film goes overboard in its depiction of NRIs and I can understand why some reviewers hate it. The patriotism on display could have been toned down. Still watchable on TV/DVD.

Overall 6/10

Pardes fmovies. Two people a real son and a foster son to a wealthy businessman are separated by their values as heaven and hell. One smoke's has had a lot of girlfriends and has every other bad habit. The other one stands as an ideal for every activity assigned to him. Both are NRI's and this is how stereotypical differences arise.

The movie tries to glorify the local (Indian) culture. This is where it gets entertaining for locals.

There are other loopholes as well. There is an incidence where female lead along with her fiancé spots a cobra. What happens then is utter foolishness. If Rajiv smokes there are tons of Indians have habit like eating Gutka.

Tone, Script & Story: The story is how a successful business NRI gets his son engaged to an Indian girl. How she gets to know about his (fiancé's) true nature. How the story changes and movie ends. The movie is definitely entertaining especially for people living in India.

Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography: Despite the loopholes and stereotype shown the filming locations and screenplay great. Music: I would say it to be 'very good'. 'Yeh dil deewana' is my favorite track. Acting: Every actor associated has done justice to their role. What a treat!

Final Verdict: I enjoyed the movie and if you respect our culture you will love it too, despite of the drawbacks.

The story of this movie is reminiscent of Dilwalle Dulhania Le Jayenge, but it have it own joyful line.

Pity that Shahrukh Khan isn't at his best performance, because Mahima Chawdary is fill the entire screen with her spell binding act. She laugh, she cry, she dance, she sings, and she always look convincing (and gorgeous). It's really a splendid performance for a debutante. It's seem to me that Shahrukh is subordinated by the stunning Mahima.

Anyhow, the movie is better than the other typical Hindi Movies. There's nothing to loose to watch this one, because it have charming plot, charming cast, charming view and charming memorable songs, that will make you on the edge of your seat.

8/10

Briefly, the story goes like this. Kishorilal (Amrish Puri) is an NRI whose heart belongs to his homeland, India (or so he says). On a trip back home, he meets his old friend, Alok Nath (forget his name). Kishorilal is impressed with the traditional values his friend has instilled in his daughter, Ganga (Mahima Chawdhry). So he requests Ganga's hand in marriage for his westernized son, Rajiv (Apoorva Agnihotri) who he hopes will become more Indian with Ganga in his life.

To prepare Ganga and her family for Rajiv's visit to India, comes Arjun (Shahrukh Khan), adopted son of Kishorilal. Arjun is a struggling musician who even though has lived in America for a few years is completely Indian at heart. After Rajiv's visit, Ganga is sent off to America to experience and understand the life there before she gets married. There she is entrusted to Rajiv who exposes her to the so called American culture. She is shocked and runs to Arjun for comfort. She begins to get closer to Arjun who is already in love with her.

The elders misinterpret their friendship and with the help of Rajiv's skewed mind label Arjun as the enemy. A highly melodramatic climax leads to an obvious ending.

So whats the problem with Pardes? Why has it raked up so much controversy you ask. Well the answer lies in the director/storyteller of this enterprise, Mr. Subhash Ghai. His portrayal of Americans and Indians living in America is completely one-sided. He shows them as drunk, sexually obsessed individuals with no values or principles.

Mr. Ghai did have a message to send to his audience but somewhere on the way it got lost in all the melodrama. His message was to be careful that we don't let foreign influences ruin what is India's most valuable entity: traditional family values and principles. What he fails to do is show all sides of the coin. There exist people in America, UK and other such countries who hold onto their values, following them to a fault. Also, he should have taken a closer look at India. There are some aspects of Indian culture that are utterly ridiculous, and we might do well to take some advice from outside and NRI's are our link to such changes. The world is not black and white, there's a lot more gray than Mr. Ghai seems to want to acknowledge.

Patriotism is a wonderful thing until you begin to stop using your brain because your blinded by it.

Everything else in the movie is average and sometimes below average. Nadeem-Shravan's music is hummable at points and loud at others. Mahima Chawdhry, the new find is pretty and decent for a newcomer but is guilty of overacting at points. Apoorva Agnihotri, although a good-looker is below average. His dialogue delivery is his downfall. Amrish Puri and Alok Nath are also guilty of overacting. I'm guessing this overdose of melodrama has to do more with the director than the actors. So they are forgiven.

Shahrukh Khan is the saving grace of this film. Coming up with one of his most subtle performances of his career, he is simply outstanding. His silence and subtlety have so much more effect than the rest of the cast's yelling and preaching. He is the only reason I own the DVD of this film. Watch Pardes, if only for the King Khan.