Pardesi was a feature film with separate Hindi-Urdu and Russian versions. It was in Colour and wide-screen SovScope and was an Indo- Soviet co-production. Pardesi was released in India in 1957, while Хождение за три моря ( Khozhdenie za tri morya ) was released in the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) on 8 January 1958. Its subtitled English version, Journey Beyond Three Seas, was premiered in New York in 1960. The Hindi-Urdu version is said to be 152 min long, though on YouTube it is around 97 minutes long. Even though it starred Nargis, the most successful heroine of the time, this biopic of Afanasi, a 15th century Russian explorer in India, did not get a theatrical release beyond left-leaning arthouse cinemas. T-Series has issued the film on DVD. The wide-screen SovScope format is intact but only a black and white print survives. Can Pardesi be called Indias first CinemaScope film? i) Naya Sansar [HaNR caHcap] was mentioned before Mosfilm even in the Russian version. (Till the late 1960s many A grade, big budget [e.g. Saawan ki Ghata] as well as B+ films [e.g. Spy in Rome] were shot in 35mm and colour; however, several prints of these films were released in black and white and 16mm for rural markets and complimentary screenings at open-air defence services amphitheatres.) The full Hindi-Urdu version is available on [YouTube] in BW. Its Censor Certificate states Colour, Scope and gives the name of its filmmakers as ‘Meera Movies and Sona Sansar International. The point is, can Pardesi be counted as an Indian film at all? ii) Ahmad Abbas [Axmada Abbaca] was given higher billing than co-writer Mariya Smirnova. However, co-director Vasili M. Pronims name was placed above in the next title. The film's co-producer was Manmohan Sabir (the other producers name was not mentioned in the credits of Pardesi). Abbas' name appears before Pronims in the Hindi-Urdu version. Incidentally, V.M. Pronim is the spelling used in this version, though in the Soviet maestro's international biographies it is Pronin.