Kishorilal (Amrish Puri), a billionaire, had left India with only ten dollars in his pocket to create his own destiny in America. He made it big - the biggest of all - building his own empire with a huge family to support him in his endeavors and in the business. Though he was not living in India, he did not let go of his Indian values and his deep sense of love and patriotism for the land of his birth. He always tried to instill Indian cultural values and ideals in the minds of his family members, especially his son Rajiv (Apoorva Agnihotri), who were now second generation Americans, and had been born and brought up in the West. Kishorilal comes to India to find a traditional 'Indian' girl for his 'American' son.

He discovers Kusum Ganga (Mahima Choudhary), the daughter of an old friend (Aloknath) and sends Rajiv and his foster son Arjun (Shahrukh Khan) to India to meet her. Rajiv and Ganga are engaged, after which Ganga, an Indian soul comes to America with stars in her eyes and rainbow hued dreams in her heart. When the East (Ganga) and West (Rajiv) clash, Arjun has the difficult task of trying to get Rajiv to accept Indian values and Ganga to accept American ways. What happens then is how the story unfolds in a larger than life canvas called 'PARDES'.'PARDES' is an Indian film to the core with melodious music, extravagant locales and opulent settings in India, as well as the US.

'PARDES' got a record number of Nominations in all major Award Categories at the Screen, Filmfare and Zee Awards. Eventually it won 2 Screen, 2 Filmfare (including Best Screenplay for SUBHASH GHAI) and 4 Zee Awards.