Yes we didn’t deserve that shooting star called Parveen Babi. The humiliation, turmoil, discrimination she was subjected to when alive and the glorified assassination she's melted out after death she never deserved it. Only if someone could have had some empathy for that soul things may have been different.
Babi a well educated westernised young girl started modelling in 1970 and soon caught the eye of Bollywood film makers, after a dismal debut she reached superstardom when paired with the then reigning superstar Amitabh in several box office hits including Majboor(1975), Deewar(1975), Amar Akbar Anthony(1977), Kaala Pathhar(1979), Suhaag(1979), Kaalia(1981), Khuddar(1982) and many others. In 1976 she appeared on the cover of the prestigious TIME magazine, a first for any Indian celebrity. Inspite of acting in author backed roles in movies like Rang Birangi(1983) all she was talked about, or worse gossiped about was her sex drive, non religious eating habits, boyfriends, and her mental condition.
In 1983 she relocated to the United States reportedly to find solace in spirituality, while some claim she was undergoing psychological counselling. When she returned back in 1989 it was for the worse. Her physical and mental condition had deteriorated, she had bloated, started making claims of how some politicians and former co stars were planning her murder, she claimed she had proofs about the Bombay bomb blasts, and various other accusations. She was mocked at, laughed at, columnists and tv show hosts cracked insensitive jokes on her mental condition. Did she really deserve this?
Her mother had passed away, she had no siblings and hadn’t married so basically she was alone. She deserved a friend or well wisher who could’ve helped her, though some sources claim she was paranoid and was not ready to meet people. Ex boyfriend Mahesh Bhatt made three movies where the heroines were shown to be suffering from chronic schizophrenia, no point for guessing who it was based on. Two of those movies released during Babi’s lifetime. Her relationships in the 70s and early 80s with Mahesh Bhatt, Kabir Bedi and Danny Dengzongpa were more destructive than romantic. These failed relationships only fuelled the chronic breakdown further.
A character actress who used to work in the 70s has claimed how people in the industry used to laugh at Babi’s mental condition. Maybe it’s very convenient to label a free spirited bohemian woman as ‘scandalous’, ‘destructive’ or just ‘mad’, nobody tried to understand Babi’s fears or complexities, her boyfriends used her and the industry milked the cow as long as it was beneficial. There is no denying she had an acute schizophrenic condition which may be medically incurable or irrevocable but she as a self respecting woman certainly deserved more dignity in her death.
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