Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit were keen to star in Pardes: Subhash Ghai

Ghai, in a chat with Bollywood Hungama, said that his production company was just bouncing back after the failure of Trimurti when he narrated the story of Pardes to Shah Rukh, who was signed with them for three films. “I told him the gist and he said that whatever you make will be nice. It won’t be good if I comment on it but the story is good and we will work together,” the filmmaker recalled.

Subhash Ghai then shared that Madhuri Dixit was very keen to do the film and shared that Pardes was earlier titled Ganga, after the lead character. “I wanted to cast a new girl for Ganga. We had Madhuri signed for three films and she already liked the character Ganga. The film was earlier titled Ganga,’ he said. The Karz director said that Salman Khan was also keen to work with him at that point. He said, “Meanwhile, Salman also sent a message that he was keen to work with us. My office people suggested that the film has the roles of two heroes and one heroine so why not make it with Shah Rukh, Salman, and Madhuri?”

Ghai said that he was torn between the distributors and making a creative decision but decided to stick to his guns. He said that he wanted to cast a new face for Ganga because Madhuri was a big star by then. “I said no. I want to cast a new girl because Madhuri is a big star and if I show her as this naive girl, it will look crafty. So, I decided to cast a new girl and a new boy,’ he recalled.

Subhash Ghai said that people in his company were insistent that he make the film with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit but he knew what he was doing. The movie, he revealed, was sold to distributors for half the price.

Salman, Shah Rukh and Madhuri eventually worked together in a 2002 film called Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam which failed to impress the audience.