Parveen Babi

Parveen Babi (4 April 1949 – 20 January 2005) was an Indian film actress, model, and an interior designer. She is remembered for her appearances in several commercially-successful films, and playing mostly bold roles throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Regarded as one of the most glamorous actresses throughout Hindi cinema, she was also one of the highest paid actresses of her time.

Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi in Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)
Born	(1949-04-04)4 April 1949 Junagadh, Saurashtra, Dominion of India (present-day Gujarat, India)
Died	20 January 2005(2005-01-20) (aged 55) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Resting place	Santacruz Muslim Cemetery, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Education	St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Occupation	Model Actress Interior designer decorator
Years active	1972–1973 (fashion model), 1973-1990 (actress)
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)

With a film career spanning 15 years, Babi appeared in more than 50 Hindi films with a variety of genres. She made her debut in 1973 with the film Charitra, and had her breakthrough with the films Majboor (1974) and Deewaar (1975), where she then garnered the reputation of a successful actress. Babi was notorious for breaking stereotypes, and was also the first Indian to have appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

Babi retired from the film industry in 1985. She had remained unmarried after a string of relationships with Kabir Bedi, Danny Denzongpa and Mahesh Bhatt. She was diagnosed with diabetes later in her life, and died of multiple organ failure on 20 January 2005.[1][2]

Personal life and education

Parveen Babi was born as Parveen Moammed Ali in 1949 Junagadh, Gujarat. She was born into a Muslim Royal family[3] Nawab of Junagarh who belonged to Babi tribe of Pashtuns that had long settled in Gujarat, She was an only child in a noble Junagad-based family[4] known as the Pathans of Gujarat. Parveen was born fourteen years after the marriage of her parents and was their only child. Her father, Vali Mohammed Khan Babi, was a system administrator with the Nawab of Junagadh and Jamal Bakhte Babi (died 2001).[5][6] She lost her father in 1959 when she was ten years old. She did her early schooling from Mount Carmel High School, Ahmedabad and later attended St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature.[7]

Babi was in a relationship with Danny Denzongpa for four years. Later she dated Kabir Bedi, and then Mahesh Bhatt.[8]Mahesh Bhatt later wrote and directed Arth (1982), a supposedly semi-autobiographical film about his relationship with Babi, and wrote and produced Woh Lamhe (2006), based on his recollection and interpretation of his relationship with Parveen and without any inputs from her.[9] It is uncertain whether Woh Lamhe is a truthful semi-autobiography of Babi, rather the details of her character in the movie appears to be a fabrication and narration of her life.

Career

Parveen Babi's modelling career began in 1972 and was quickly followed by her film debut with the film Charitra (1973), opposite cricketer Salim Durrani.[10] The film was a resounding flop, but Parveen was noticed and was snapped up for several more films. Her first major hit was Majboor (1974), opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Along with Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi redefined the image of the Indian film heroine in the 70s. She was the first Bollywood star to appear on the front page of Time[11] in July 1976, much to the amazement of her contemporaries. Throughout her career, she was known more as a glamorous heroine and fashion icon rather than a serious actress. Famous designer Manish Malhotra says: "Parveen Babi brought minimalism into fashion. She was always impeccable, not overdoing it even once."[12]

Parveen was one of the most successful actresses of her era, along with Hema Malini, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Reena Roy and Raakhee. She starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in eight films, all hits or super-hits. She also starred in other hit films such as Suhaag (1979), Kaala Patthar (1979), and Namak Halaal (1982) opposite Shashi Kapoor, Kala Sona (1975) opposite Feroz Khan, Chandi Sona (1977) opposite Sanjay Khan and Jaani Dost (1983) opposite Dharmendra. Later in her career, she had also appeared in off-beat films such as Vinod Pande's Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982), playing the "other woman" opposite Marc Zuber, and Dil... Akhir Dil Hai (1982), opposite Naseeruddin Shah.[13]

Her career peaked at the time when most heroines were engulfed in Indian attributes and Babi was one among the few actresses whose attire was completely westernised and this provided her a certain latitude many other contemporary female artists were denied in India's heavily male-dominated and misogynistic cinematic fiefdom. Parveen Babi along with Zeenat Aman with their chiselled looks, well-sculpted bodies and anglicised accents, donned the mantle of the westernized Indian heroine and imparted to the female prima donna of Bollywood their characteristic mannerisms forever.[14] In fact, she acted alongside Aman in Mahaan (1983) and Ashanti (1982) (inspired by the American television show Charlie's Angels, with the third role played by Shabana Azmi). Her more memorable roles include "Anita" in Deewaar (1975), "Jenny" in Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), and "Sunita" in Shaan (1980). In films such as Deewaar (1975), Shaan (1980), Kranti (1981) and Namak Halaal (1982), her screen time may have been minimal as the films were largely worked around the hero, but Babi brought a certain presence to the roles and songs she appeared in.

As Babi's personality symbolized western standards, it was difficult for Bollywood producers to give her the typical bharatiya nari and gaon ki gori roles. She mainly starred in westernized and glamorous roles that established her status as a top heroine. She appeared in several commercially successful films of the era and her main co-stars were Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna, all leading stars of the 1970s and 1980s.[15] In her acting career which spanned almost ten years, she acted in more than fifty films, of which ten were blockbusters. She never shied away from portraying roles of women having a live-in relationship with men and consuming alcohol openly, both of which were taboo in those times. She undeniably lit up and overpowered the screen with her presence. The fact that Parveen was paired with Amitabh Bachchan in eight films during the peak of the Big B mania attests to her stature and star power. It seems to have been taken that 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.[16]

She would often appear in popular film songs which have become the craze of the young generations and such song picturisations involved glamorous costumes and ravishing film sets and in time would become hugely popular, and this includes "Jawaani Jaaneman" and "Raat Baaqi Baat Baaqi" in Namak Halaal, "Pyaar Karne Waale" in Shaan and "Maara Thumka" in Kranti, and this popularity made her among the highest paid actresses in Bollywood at those times. She would appear on the front page of every film magazine, whether Filmfare, The Stardust, Bombay Dyeing or even the prestigious Time.[15][17]

She later "disappeared" from the film scene in 1983, without informing anyone about her whereabouts, a perception that allowed for exaggerated rumours and pompous claims to be whispered in the industry that she might be "under the control" of figures in the "underworld". Many of her completed films were released in the following years, right up to her last film Akarshan in 1988.[18]

Later life

On 30 July 1983, Parveen Babi left India and the film industry at the height of her career and travelled to various countries for a spiritual journey with U. G. Krishnamurti and her friend Valentine and spent some of the time in California and Houston. On 7 April 1984, she was suspected at John F. Kennedy International Airport after she failed to submit her identification papers and as she behaved to be difficult, the authorities handcuffed her and kept her in a general ward with thirty other mentally disturbed patients. The Indian Consul General, who had been informed of the unfortunate incident, had personally come to visit her at the hospital. During U.G.'s visit, Parveen smiled and chatted with the Consul as though nothing had happened.[19][20][21]

When asked about how she felt about experiences of people and countries that she lived in, she replied: "my experience of people is that human beings are very good people. However, the powerful, to serve their vested power interests manipulate pressure and use ordinary human beings and their power ploy and force them into negative act. However, I believe, eventually, the human spirit of positive will triumph and as far as other attributes of people are considered I find Americans to be extremely progressive and ingenious race. And I identify a great deal with Americans."[22]

She returned to Mumbai in November 1989 where she was unrecognizable as her former self after having put on a considerable amount of weight. She was rumoured to have been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a mental illness, although she regularly denied this, stating that her being labelled as such was a conspiracy by the film industry and the media to malign her image and make her appear insane, so that they could cover up their crimes.[21] Some sources indicate that it could have been a situation of acute depression, but was not confirmed since she had many failed relationships with one of her former lovers openly humiliating her. This led Parveen to break relationships with most of her close dear ones including her own blood relations, having few contacts with known people and had become reclusive as she distrusted everyone.[23]

She accused many foreign dignitaries as well as Indian film personalities including Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Clinton, Robert Redford, Prince Charles, Al Gore, US government, British government, French government, BJP government, Roman Catholic Church, CIA, CBI, KGB, Mossad[24][25] of conspiring to kill her, but her petition in court was dismissed for lack of evidence and when she was asked to show her evidences by the press, it was some sort of scribblings on a notepad.[21]

During the early 1990s, whenever journalists or members of the press would come to her then Kalumal estate apartment in Juhu for an interview, she would often ask them to eat her food and drink her water, so that she might be assured her food was not poisoned and she assumed her makeup was contaminated, so that her skin should peel off, and according to her, the international mafia had cut off her electricity to harass her. Even before starting an interview, she would keep her dictaphone on, announcing the day, date, time and the name of journalists and publication into the microphone and would record before the conversation began. Many journalists found her to be very intelligent, vivid, convivial person and one who spoke fluent English. And the next day, when they spoke badly about her illness in the press writings, she would refer to them as "agents of Amitabh Bachchan".[26] One of her neighbours said that when Bachchan's film was shown on cable television, the actress reacted violently and had to be calmed.

Nevertheless, she started a career as an interior decorator in 1983.[27] In 2002, she again hit the headlines when she filed an affidavit in a special court hearing of 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.[21] In the last four years of her life, Babi recorded every phone call, always punctiliously informing the caller about surveillance.

She also had the habit of recording her daily thoughts and activities. Some of the collection of her notepads found in the office of the State Administrator General of the Government of Maharashtra, give her thoughts on hooks of suspicion and doubt, and go on to repeat. What shines through is the meticulousness, say, in the planning of an event at her house. A few months before she died, Babi hosted a small Christmas dinner at her Juhu flat. The names of the seven guests are listed on the notepad, one of them is Reverend Avinash Rangayya (the pastor of All Saints Anglican Church, Church of North India at Malabar Hill). The French dishes on the menu are listed and next to them is a series of reminders: "Call caterer for knives, forks, glasses, spoons." "Get four bakery cakes." "Clean plates, table cloths." "Call florist." "Clean and prepare salad ingredients." And finally: "Asparagus".[28]

She was said to have lived lonely and converted to Christianity during the late 1990s and also ate pork because she considered not eating pork racist.[29][30]

In an interview in 1998, she said: "I was born a Muslim and later, I converted to Christianity. But I have never done things I didn't believe. Even when I was a Muslim, I didn't understand why it made me a more spiritual entity, if I did not eat pork. I always felt that the essence of spirituality lies in being a good human and following good, positive principles. The Golden Dragon Chinese restaurant at the Taj, those days, was quite famous for pork delicacies and every time I got a break from shooting, I would rush off to the Golden Dragon. Whenever my friends questioned me about my eating pork, I would say that it was more important for me to be a human being than a racist."[29]

After withdrawing from show business, she took up keen interests in music, piano, painting, architecture, literature, writing, cultural and archaeological study, politics, photography, sculpture and human rights issues. She also made numerous contributions to newspapers and magazines from 1973 to 1992.

However, she managed to maintain her posh penthouse apartment in Mumbai, and lived affluently from sound financial investments.[31]

Death

She was found dead 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.[32] The police suspected that she may have been dead for up to 72 hours before her body was found. The cause of her death was not immediately known. She was found to have gangrene of the left foot as a complication of her diabetic condition. A wheelchair was found near her bed and a series of disarranged paintings, clothes, medicines and old newspapers. She had a bandage on her left foot, that she had put on, to treat her gangrene which had resulted from a long ailment of diabetes. It is possible that she was unable to walk in her last days due to a gangrenous foot and required the use of a wheelchair to move inside the house.[33] A post-mortem was conducted at Cooper Hospital and reports showed that there were no traces of food in her stomach, but some alcohol (possibly from her medication) was found and it is possible that she had not consumed anything for more than three days and as a consequence starved to death. The police ruled out any foul play and it was determined she succumbed due to total organ failure and diabetes.[34]

Mahesh Bhatt said For Me, She Died Twice, once when she had the mental breakdown and now. I owe everything that I am today to my brief association with this magnificent woman. She was a rebel who lived life on her own terms, died on her own terms.[35] Parveen Babi converted to Christianity during the last years of her life, as she stated in an interview, and was baptised in a Protestant Anglican Church at Malabar Hill.[36] and expressed a desire to be buried as per Christian rites, but her relatives who were Muslims claimed her body after her death and buried her as per Islamic rites.[29][37] Parveen Babi was buried at Juhu Muslim cemetery in Santacruz, Mumbai.[38]

After her death the State Administrator General of Maharashtra became sole custodian of her properties and assets, and took responsibility for the management of them.[39]

After Parveen Babi's death chaos erupted when various distant relatives filed petitions with the high court regarding the will of her property which had been lying in the locker of a Junagadh bank, executed jointly by the late actor and her friend Murad Khan Babi, this will stated that 70 per cent of her property was to be put in a trust in her name to help poor members of the Babi family. Twenty per cent was pledged to Murad Khan Babi, for being "a guiding force", and 10 per cent was to be given to Christian missionary funds.[40][41]

Five years later, due to a shortage of land space for burials, Parveen Babi's grave along with other luminary Bollywood celebrities such as Mohammed Rafi, Madhubala, Sahir Ludhianvi, Talat Mahmood, Naushad Ali who were interred at Santa Cruz Muslim Cemetery, were exhumed and their remains were disposed of (relocated) to provide space for new burials.[42][43][44]

Filmography

Year	Title	Costar	Notes
1973	Charitra	Salim Durrani	Debut Film
1974	Trimurti	Sanjay Khan
	Majboor	Amitabh Bachchan
	Dhuen Ki Lakeer	Ramesh Aurora
	36 Ghante	Vijay Arora
1975	Deewaar	Amitabh Bachchan
	Kaala Sona	Feroz Khan
1976	Bhanwar	Randhir Kapoor
	Bullet	Dev Anand
	Rangila Ratan	Rishi Kapoor
	Mazdoor Zindabaad	Randhir Kapoor
1977	Amar Akbar Anthony	Amitabh Bachchan
	Chalta Purza	Rajesh Khanna
	Darinda	Feroz Khan
	Mastan Dada	Sanjay Khan
	Mama Bhanja	Randhir Kapoor
	Chor Sipahee	Shashi Kapoor
	Chandi Sona	Sanjay Khan
1978	Pati, Patni Aur Woh	Sanjeev Kumar	Cameo
	Aahuti	Shashi Kapoor
1979	Kaala Patthar	Shashi Kapoor
	Suhaag	Shashi Kapoor
1980	Do Aur Do Paanch	Amitabh Bachchan
	The Burning Train	Vinod Khanna
	Shaan	Amitabh Bachchan
	Gunahgaar	Rishi Kapoor
	Ek Gunah Aur Sahi	Sunil Dutt
1981	Kranti	Shashi Kapoor
	Khoon Aur Paani	Feroz Khan
	Meri Aawaz Suno	Jeetendra
	Kaalia	Amitabh Bachchan
	Raksha	Jeetendra
1982	Desh Premee	Navin Nischal
	Namak Halaal	Shashi Kapoor
	Ashanti	Mithun Chakraborty
	Dil Aakhir Dil Hai	Naseeruddin Shah
	Khuddaar	Amitabh Bachchan
	Yeh Nazdeekiyan	Marc Zuber
	Taaqat	Vinod Khanna
1983	Mangal Pandey	Shatrughan Sinha
	Gehri Chot - Urf Doordesh	Raj Babbar
	Arpan	Jeetendra
	Rang Birangi	Amol Palekar
	Mahaan	Amitabh Bachchan
	Jaani Dost	Dharmendra
	Razia Sultan	None
	Chor Police	Shatrughan Sinha
1984	Bad Aur Badnam	Sanjeev Kumar
	Teri Bahon Mein	None	Cameo-dancer
1985	Ameer Aadmi Gharib Aadmi	Shatrughan Sinha	Special appearance
	Sitamgar	Dharmendra
	Bond 303	Jeetendra
	Karm Yudh	None	Cameo
1986	Avinash	Mithun Chakraborty
1988	Akarshan	None	Cameo
1991	Iraada	Shatrughan Sinha

See also

• List of Indian film actresses
• Balasinor State
• Pathans of Gujarat

References

1. "Parveen Babi dies, alone in death as in life", The Times of India, 22 January 2005.
2. "Parveen wanted to be left alone", The Times of India, 30 January 2005 Archived 5 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
3. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/parveen-babi-488143.html
4. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0044916/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
5. "The Illustrious Babi Daynasty :: JunaGadh State". junagadhstate.org.
6. "'Adopted son' claims Parveen Babi's crores". Sify.com. 31 January 2005. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
7. "St. Xavier's College – Ahmedabad – INDIA". stxavierscollege.net.
8. "Danny Denzongpa: Girls Are Attracted to Bad Guys | Entertainment". iDiva.com. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
9. "Mahesh Bhatt: Parveen Babi and Parvan I", Dawn, 31 December 2006.
10. "Bollywood star Parveen Babi dies" BBC News, 22 January 2005
11. "Parveen Babi's iconic Time magazine cover – Movies News – Bollywood – ibnlive". Ibnlive.in.com. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
12. "Manish Malhotra picks his five favourite super stylish heroines of the seventies". Calcutta, India: Telegraph India. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
13. "Ashanti". brns.com.
14. "The Myth & Madness of Parveen Babi". iDiva.com. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
15. "Parveen Babi: A bohemian rhapsody". Rediff.com. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
16. "Parveen Babi – The Diva of Hindi Film Industry". Song.ezinemark.com. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
17. "Parveen Babi". Parveen-babi.ememorials.in. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
18. "Amitabh on Parveen Babi". Rediff.com. 27 January 2005. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
19. "10. Years After". Well.com. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
20. "On Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti". Ug-krishnamurti.blogspot.in. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
21. "Gone too soon". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
22. "Parveen Babi-Actress -Bollywood-Celeb Interview Archives-Indiatimes Chat". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
23. "The Myth & Madness of the Late Parveen Babi". iDiva.com. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
24. "Former filmstar Parveen Babi sees plots everywhere : INDIASCOPE". India Today. 19 August 2002. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
25. "Court throws out plea of film actress". Gulf News. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
26. "Parveen Babi: A life interrupted". The Times of India. 10 August 2002.
27. "As in life, so in death: lonely and lovelorn". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 23 January 2005. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
28. INHERITANCE OF LOSS: Remains of a beautiful mind Archived 21 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. The Times of India
29. "Parveen Babi – Memories". Cineplot.com. 3 July 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
30. Snehal Fernandes. "She said we were her only family". Express India. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
31. "Parveen Babi's Juhu apartment sealed". Rediff.co.in. 24 January 2005. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
32. "Parveen Babi found dead in Mumbai" Archived 24 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Indian Express, 22 January 2005.
33. Parveen Babi found dead in her flat. mid-day.com. 23 January 2005
34. "Parveen Babi: Jeeti thi shaan se". daily.bhaskar.com. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
35. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/for-me-she-died-twice/226313
36. "Church completes 125 years". The Times of India. 20 November 2007. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
37. "Parveen Babi wanted Christian last rites". The Times of India. 23 January 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
38. "Chaos, confusion mark Parveen Babi's funeral". expressindia.com.
39. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Actress-Parveen-Babis-kin-claims-her-assets/articleshow/1633614.cms
40. "Babi will leaves relatives high and dry". The Times of India. 28 April 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
41. "Babi will leaves kin high and dry". The Times of India. 29 April 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
42. "Juhu Muslim Cemetery: Mumbai's multi-story graveyard". CNNGo.com. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
43. "Rafi, Naushad's Graves Could be Dug for Space". news.outlookindia.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
44. "The old resting places of the beautiful". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.

External links

• Parveen Babi on IMDb