Pardesi - 1957

Pardesi, released in the year 1957, is the first Indo-Russian joint venture in film making. The film jointly directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Vasili Pronin starred the Russian actor Oleg Strizhenov and Indian actress Nargis in lead roles. Pardesi was a multi-star movie with the presence of Indian actors like Prithviraj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, Bharat Bhushan and Padmini along with a bunch of Russian actors.

Pardesi, made both in Hindi and Russian version, was based on the travelogues of the Russian traveller Afanasy Nikitin called 'A Journey Beyond the Three Seas.' The travelogue is considered as a literary monument in Russian literature.

The narrative of this period film goes through the voyage of the 15th century Russian trade traveller Afanasy Nikitin who traveled to India and fell in love with an Indian girl. Film’s music was composed by Anil Biswas. Evergreen songs like Rasiya Re Man Basiya Re by Meena Kapoor, Na Dir Dim by Lata Mangeshkar are from this film.