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The late 70s and 80s superstar Parveen Babi is a star whose loss is a remnant in Hindi Cinema. Her charm and ability to translate emotions through subtlety and grace made the movies she starred in more affluent. Multiple heartbreaks, a bout with schizophrenia, and an untimely death at the age of 50 marked the end of the starlet’s life. But did you know she once ran behind Mahesh Bhatt without stopping him after they broke up? She also ended up in a mental hospital in New York.
Parveen Babi‘s life stories are no less than a saga; it had everything: love, heartbreak, sadness, and tragedy. Amar Akbar Anthony, Namak Halal, Shaan, and The Burning Train are just a few of the classic Hindi films she starred in. And while her onscreen journey was a series of blockbusters, her personal life was no less than a Greek tragedy.
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The Namak Halal actress first got her big break in the Amitabh Bachchan Starrer cult classic Deewar in 1975. Babi‘s charm and beauty encapsulated the heart of the nation. She went on to give hit performances in movies like Kala Pathar, Kranti, Kaalia, and so many more.
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Parveen was a star on the rise and saw the heights of fame with her back-to-back hits. But her personal life was something that haunted her. She first fell in love with Actor Danny Denzogpa and thought she would marry him. But Alas, fate had other plans, and the two parted ways. She again found love with actor Kabir Bedi, but the relationship did not work out because he was married, but the two remained friends.
But Babi again became involved with a married man, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. He was besotted with her; reports also suggest that he started to live with Babi even though he was married. A shocking incident led Parveen to run on the road without any clothes.
When Mahesh Bhatt and Parveen were dating and visiting her, he noticed changes in her behavior. The director later found out that Babi had paranoid schizophrenia after she claimed that people were after her life. Bhatt and Parveen’s relationship suffered a lot because even after many attempts to reconcile and get her treatment, nothing was working out. Around this time, when Mahesh Bhatt tried leaving after their affair ended, Parveen Babi ran after him to stop him from leaving.
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In a hurried attempt to stop him, and given her state of mind, Babi ran without clothes. But their relationship did not survive. Parveen then left for America to receive further treatment in 1984. She was stopped at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York after officers thought she behaved oddly. After she failed to submit her identification papers, the authorities handcuffed her and kept her in a general ward with thirty other mentally disturbed patients.
Parveen Babi retired from public life and film sometime in 1983, but her last appearance was in 1991, in the film Irada. Her medical condition has worsened, and the treatment was not helping her. She made grave allegations against former co-star Amitabh Bachchan, even accusing him of trying to kill her, but there was no evidence. She made many claims, but none of them were based on reality.
Babi passed away at the age of 50 from organ failure and diabetes. This once-upon-a-time superstar’s sad demise shook many and is still remembered as a damsel’s tale of a fallen star.
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