''Pardesi'' (; ) is a 1957 film jointly directed by

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the ( Golden Palm Gr ...

and Vasili Pronin. It was made in two versions, Hindi and Russian, and is based on the travelogues of Russian traveller Afanasy Nikitin, called '' A Journey Beyond the Three Seas'', which is now considered a Russian literary monument. Made during the high time of Indo-Russian amity, ''Pardesi'' is an Indo-Soviet co-production between the state-owned

Mosfilm Mosfilm (, ''Mosfil’m'' , initialism and portmanteau of Moscow Films) is a film studio in Moscow which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's fi ...

and Khwaja Ahmad Abbas's Naya Sansar International production house. The film has music by Anil Biswas, and had some memorable hits such as ''Rasiya Re Man Basiya Re'', by Meena Kapoor, ''Na Dir Dim'', by

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

and was danced to by Padmini. The film was in SovColor, though no colour print of the Hindi version is known to survive in India. Only a black and white copy of the Hindi film survives.

Synopsis

The film tells the story of Afanasy Nikitin (

Oleg Strizhenov Oleg Aleksandrovich Strizhenov (; 10 August 1929 – 9 February 2025) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was awarded People's Artist of the USSR in 1988. Biography Strizhenov was born in Blagoveshchensk in 1929. His family moved ...

), a 15th-century Russian trader from

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

who travelled to India (1466–1472) and falls in love with an Indian girl, ''Champa'' (

Nargis Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid, also known as Nirmala Dutt; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) known mononyomusly as Nargis was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the ...

Cast

as Afanasy Nikitin *

as Champa * Padmini as Laxmi *

Prithviraj Kapoor Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...

as Mahmood Gawan *

Balraj Sahni Balraj Sahni (born Yudhishthir Sahni; 1 May 1913 – 13 April 1973) was an Indian film and stage actor, who is best known for (1946), '' Do Bigha Zameen'' (1953), '' Chhoti Bahen'' (1959), '' Kabuliwala'' (1961), Waqt (1965) and '' Garm Hava'' ...

as Sakharam *

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

as Asad Khan *

Achala Sachdev Achala Sachdev (3 May 1920 – 30 April 2012) was an Indian actress who appeared in classic films of Hindi language film industry, who started her career as a child actor. She later became known for mother and grandmother roles in Hindi films. ...

as Champa's Mother *

Manmohan Krishna Manmohan Krishna (26 February 1922 – 3 November 1990) was an Indian film actor and director, who worked in Hindi films for four decades, mostly as a character actor. He started his career as a professor in Physics and held master's degree i ...

as Champa's Father *

Paidi Jairaj Paidipati Jairaj (28 September 1909 – 11 August 2000) was an Indian actor, director and producer known for his works majorly in Hindi; few Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu language films, and Telugu theatre.Luminaries of 20th Century, Potti Sreera ...

as Hassan Beg Khurasani *

Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman (; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and captain of the Afghanistan national team in the T20I format. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide ...

as Scribe * Stepan Kayukov as Yevsey Ivanovich

Music

# "Rasiyaa Re Man Basiyaa Re" – Meena Kapoor # "Na Dir Dhin Tana Dere Na, Na Ja Na Ja Balam" –

# "Phir Milenge Jane Wale Yar Dusvidaniya" –

Manna Dey Prabodh Chandra Dey (; 1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an Indian playback singer, music director, and musician. He had a classical music background, being part of the Bhendibazaar gharana, Bhendibazaar Gh ...

# "So Ja Re Lalna So Ja Re Lalna" – Meena Kapoor # "Rim Jhim Rim Jhim Barse Pani Re" – Meena Kapoor,

# "Jai Jai Ramkrishna Hari, Tujh Me Ram Mujh Me Ram" –

# "Arre Zara Suno Lagakar Dhyan" (2) –

# "Arre Zara Suno Lagakar Dhyan, Yaha Jan Me Log Mahan" –

Awards

1958 Cannes Film Festival The 11th Cannes Film Festival took place from 2 to 18 May 1958. French writer Marcel Achard served as Jury President for the main competition. The '' Palme d'Or'' was awarded to '' The Cranes Are Flying'' by Mikhail Kalatozov. Juries The follo ...

–

Golden Palm The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

– Nomination * 1958

Filmfare Best Art Direction Award The Filmfare Best Art Direction Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. Although the awards started in 1954, this category was started only in 1956. Superlatives Awards See also * Fi ...

– M.R. Acharekar-Awards
''

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

''.

References

External links

*
Pardesi remembered 50 years on

Rasiya Re Man Basiya Re (Meena Kapoor)-Pardesi Song
1957 films 1950s historical films Films set in the 1460s Films set in the 1470s 1950s Hindi-language films Indian multilingual films Soviet multilingual films Indian historical films Soviet adventure films Soviet historical films Soviet biographical films 1950s Soviet films 1950s Russian-language films Russian-language adventure films Russian-language biographical films Russian-language historical films Films directed by K. A. Abbas Films scored by Anil Biswas Films with screenplays by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas 1950s multilingual films {{1950s-USSR-film-stub