Many Bollywood movies are etched in the hearts of audiences today. One such memorable film is Subhash Ghai’s Pardes. The film completed its silver jubilee this August. In a recent interview, Ghai recalled the time when he made the film and talked about the difficulties he faced while casting the lead actors.
Pardes featured Shah Rukh Khan along with debutants Mahima Chaudhry and Apurva Agnihotri. Subhash shared that Shah Rukh was perfect for the film but it was tough to get Mahima (aka Ganga) and Apurva (aka Rajiv) on board because the distributors wanted him to cast ‘bigger names from the industry and not newcomers.
Speaking of the 1997 film, Subhash said, “The greatest hurdle in making the film was the casting. We had a lot of discussions about whether we should cast a known name who had that star value or find someone who suits the part to the T. I had Shah Rukh Khan in mind for Arjun’s character. I had developed it keeping him in mind, and I insisted on casting him. He was just setting foot in the industry at that time, and I got him on board immediately. He was perfect for the role.”
Elaborating on how tough it was to convince the film’s distributors about casting Mahima for Pardes, the filmmaker stated, “My script did not allow me to cast a star for Kusum Ganga’s and Rajiv’s characters (played by Mahima and Apoorva). I only wanted to cast actors who could fit the bill. The distributors wanted me to cast bigger names and create a bigger project because our previous film Trimurti had not worked at the box office. I declined. I said, ‘I am making a film, not a project. I want to be sincere with what I want to say.’ Finally, when they saw Pardes, they were convinced. The rest is history! The film celebrated a golden jubilee run all over India, and Mahima won awards. I got some awards for the screenplay, too.”
Pardes was a major hit of its time. The film dealt with how some Indians tend to forget their cultural values after settling down in foreign countries.