I don’t know anyone who didn’t admire Parveen Babi in his/her childhood. I think she was everybody’s favourite. I don’t think it would be incorrect to say that she was the prettiest face of Indian cinema & she had played some of the most glamorous roles. She was really stylish & beautiful. But she had a very sad life.
Her original name was Parveen Wali Mohammad Khan Babi. She was born 14 years after the marriage of her parents & she was the only child. She lost her father when she was just 7. By the way she also went to St. Xavier’s College in Ahmadabad. She was the 1st Indian woman who was featured on Time magazine cover in 1976.
She had schizophrenia & understanding any mental illness at that time must have been impossible, cause even now educated people haven’t been able to understand any mental disease, if they are not suffering from it. In schizophrenia you see stuff that others can’t see. There is a controller & that can be a nightmare. Electric shocks are given to such patients. It’s indeed a very painful life. Any kind of mental illness is bad news but schizophrenia is the worst kind of nightmare. Hallucinations can drive anyone nuts.
When Mahesh Bhatt made Arth, Parveen Babi was quite upset. Even after her death, he made a movie on her life. We did learn few things from the movie Who Lamhe. Her mother was a bitch just like the rest of the world. I don’t know if he was educating people about the disease. The thing is…when she didn’t like something while she was alive, could she approve of it after her death?
It was saddening that only her 3 exes (Mahesh Bhatt, Kabir Bedi & Danny) were present on her burial. What happened to the rest of the world?
This is what I read about her on Wikipedia:
“After rumours about Babi suffering from schizophrenia began making rounds, she sought mental solace through alternative contemporary spirituality. She followed "Osho" for a few years and later became involved with the teachings of U.G.Krishnamurti in New York. She returned to Mumbai in 1992 where she was unrecognizable as her former self after having put on a considerable amount of weight. She accused many foreign dignitaries including 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. In 2002, she again hit the headlines when she filed an affidavit in the special court hearing the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, claiming that she had gathered clinching evidence against actor Sanjay Dutt showing his involvement in the case, but she did not turn up in court after being summoned saying that she was afraid of being killed.”
“She was found dead in her Mumbai apartment on 22 January 2005 after her residential society secretary alerted the police that she had not collected milk and newspapers from her doorstep for three days.”
It feels really bad to know that someone suffered so much. She left everyone in her last 10 years. You can’t blame her or call her mad. It’s the very bitchy & shallow nature of humans that forces someone like Parveen Babi to take drastic step & become a hermit. Such sensitive people prefer making friends with loneliness rather than sticking around with fake & made up bitches & assholes. Even today many closed minds will judge her by those 3 affairs & would even blame & judge her for this mental illness, which was certainly not her fault. But this is how the world is. Compassion is always missing. We never help out anyone. We just lose good people & we are not even aware of it.
This is the only tribute I could pay to the lady who would even give Barbie dolls a hard time. When I was a kid, Zeenat Aman & Parveen Babi were my favourites, cause they both looked really very, very sexy & beautiful. I just couldn’t notice Rekha, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi or fat ass Neetu Singh for obvious reason. And even today my favourites are still the same. I don’t think anyone can beat these 2 ladies.
