Profile of Parveen Babi on Famous Like Me

Parveen Babi (April 4, 1955 - January 20?, 2005) was an Indian actress.

She was born in Junagadh and did her early schooling in Aurangabad. She did her college at St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. Her father Vali Mohammed Babi was an administrator with the Nawab of Junagadh. Babi was born fourteen years after the marriage of her parents and was the only child.

She was one of the most successful Bollywood actresses in the 1970s and was known for her portrayal of strong women who did not care about the conventional norms of society. In her most successful films, she was paired opposite Amitabh Bachchan who was one of the biggest stars of the decade. Often compared with her contemporary Zeenat Aman due to their common image of being Westernized beauties, Babi can be considered more ethereal when compared to the more earthly Zeenat. In her films like Deewar (1975), Shaan (1980) and Namak Halaal (1982) her screen presence maybe minimal (the films largely working around the hero) but Babi brought a certain attractive aloofness to the role or the song she appeared in. A tragic sensibility seems to pervade her seemingly impassive performances (her work in Namak Halaal is a case in point).

Babi also acted in offbeat films like Vinod Pandey's Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982).

Her success did not run into the next decade and she left the film industry to move to New York in 1983. Here she became associated with the spiritual philosopher U.G. Krishnamurthy. 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 many foreign dignitaries and former co-star Amitabh Bachchan of conspiracy 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. Mahesh Bhatt made Arth (1982), a semi-autobiographical film on his relationship with Babi.

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 the past two days. The police ruled out any foul play. She was buried next to her mother at Santa Cruz in Mumbai on January 23.

She is the first Indian actress who featured on TIME magazine's cover.

Filmography

• Deewar (1975)
• Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)
• Shaan (1980)
• Namak Halaal (1982)

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