Pardesi is a 1957 film jointly directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas 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 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 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), a 15th-century Russian trader from Tver who travelled to India (1466–1472) and falls in love with an Indian girl, Champa (Nargis).

Cast

Music

Awards