Parveen Babi : A Tribute
6 October 2006 | Actress | 1 Comment
Mahesh Bhatt's latest release Woh Lamhe is supposedly a tribute to his ex-love Parveen Babi. This is the 2nd tribute after Arth, which catapulted him into a very successful Bollywood director. Arth was also based on his affair with Parveen Babi, where actress Smita Patil portrayed Parveen's role in the movie.
Parveen Babi is perhaps the prettiest actress to have ever appeared in Bollywood cinema. She undeniably lit up and overpowered the screen with her presence. The fact that Parveen was paired with Amitabh Bachchan in 8 films during the peak of Big-B mania attests to her stature and star power. It seems to have taken a superstar of Bachchan's stature or should we say only a superstar of Bachchan's stature could stand side by side with the presence of Parveen Babi. Amitabh and Parveen complemented each other in the heady first years of the "Angry Young Man" phenomenon. They were paired to each other as the tragic lovers in the seminal "Deewaar" (1975), which is (although a secondary part) one of Babi's most enduring and memorable roles.
Her success did not run into the eighties and she left the film industry to move to New York in 1983. Here she became associated with the spiritual philosopher U. G. Krishnamurti. She returned to Mumbai in 2002 where she was unrecognizable as her former self after having put on a considerable amount of weight. She accused Bill Clinton and her former co-star, Amitabh Bachchan, of conspiring to kill her but her petition in court was dismissed for lack of evidence. She also filed an affidavit in the special court hearing the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, claiming that she had evidence to show, but she did not turn up in court after being summoned saying that she was afraid of being killed.
Parveen Babi may have suffered from schizophrenia and had become a recluse in the last years of her life. She never married but had close relationships with director Mahesh Bhatt and actors Kabir Bedi and Danny Denzongpa. She was also rumoured to have a relationship with her co star Amitabh Bacchan. Mahesh Bhatt made Arth (1982), a semi-autobiographical film about his relationship with Babi.These experiences triggered of schizophrenia which was not completely treated or supported and ultimately resulted in her final loneliness without any support systems.
She was found dead in her Mumbai apartment on January 22, 2005 after her residential society secretary complained to the police that she had not collected milk and newspapers from her doorstep for two days. The police ruled out any foul play. She was buried next to her mother at Santa Cruz, in Mumbai on January 23, after her funeral was made according to Islamic teachings. She is the first Indian actress to have featured on TIME magazine's cover.
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It is sad to read a person of such fame dies a lonely death and it is yet sadder to know those from her past were not there for the funeral.Well it does show now we do live in a cruel world and to all those who still hold a grudge……well mate you only shine where others shit !