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On Thursday, Subhash Ghai shared a poster from his film Pardes on his Instagram handle, claiming actress Mahima Chaudhary sent it to him. He wrote, “Isn’t rewarding to get a message from your protegee with this picture celebrating 27 years of Pardes.” He added, “Thank you dear Mahima for your sweet message today as it “feels like yesterday.”
Calling Mahima a “fresh talent”, Subhash said, “Yes, it was a big challenge to make a film with fresh talent with an established star like SRK with his super performance. You were blessed with Filmfare award for your great performance and the movie ran for 60 weeks.”
Ghai claimed the film still resonates with people. Pardes marked the debut of actors Mahima Chaudhry and Apurva Agnihotri. However, they were not the first choice of the team.
In an earlier interview with indianexpress.com, the filmmaker revealed, “There was immense pressure. My last film hadn’t worked so, distributors suggested that if I cast Salman and Madhuri alongside Shah Rukh, it would give a huge boost to the film. Both were stars. But I refused, simply because they would not have done justice to my characters. Rajiv was an NRI, so there needed to be a certain mystery about him. It had to be someone unknown and hence I decided to cast a newcomer. That’s how we chose Apurva.”
“For Ganga, they wanted Madhuri, who had worked with us many films. She was, in fact, a Mukta Arts heroine. Madhuri had even liked the script and wanted to do it but I knew the character of Ganga demanded a non-familiar face, an innocence never seen before. An established face wouldn’t have given me that. That’s how Mahima happened, and I am glad both of my choices paid off”, he added.
In the interview, he also recalled his differences with Shah Rukh Khan and revealed the actor was quite unhappy with his character and feared the film would damage his romantic-hero image. “I told him, ‘You can’t do your signature romance, your character is in denial till the end and you have to play it like that.’ He would say, ‘Subhashji, I am not happy, I am doing a non-romantic role’.” They also had arguments over SRK’s costumes for the film.
Similarly, there was quite a controversy between Mahima and the filmmaker after the movie released. The actress in an interview with Bollywood Hungama claimed, “I was bullied by Mr. Subhash Ghai. He even took me to the court and wanted me to cancel my first show. It was quite stressful. He sent a message to all the producers that nobody should work with me! If you pick up one of the issues of Trade Guide magazine in 1998 or 1999, there was an ad that he had given which stated that if anybody wanted to work with me, that person would have to contact him.”
Later, Subhash Ghai reacted to the same and gave a statement that read, “I am amused reading this news. . Mahima and I are very good friends till date and are still in touch through messages.”
He added, “Yes , there was a small conflict in 1997 post the release of Pardes , which became a big blockbuster and for which she even got the filmfare award for best actor. My company did send her a show cause notice for flouting a clause in our agreement. Media n industry reacted in a big way and so I withdrew n canceled her contract with Mukta . After 3 years she came to me with her family n apologised for her impulsive reaction. I forgave her n thereafter we became friends again.”
Despite opening to mixed reviews, the film went on to become the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1997 after Dil To Pagal Hai, Border, and Ishq. The film’s songs also became a great hit with the audience.
Pardes was later remade in Telugu as Pelli Kanuka starring Jagapati Babu, Lakshmi and Banumathi Ramakrishan. The film released on the eve of celebration of 50th anniversary of the Indian independence in 1998. Pelli Kanuka marked the last appearance of Bhanumathi as an actor.
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