The shining star of the Bollywood, one of the most glamorous actresses of the Hindi Film Industry, Parveen Babi is considered as one of the most eminent actresses who changed the image of Bollywood actresses. She was the one who used to lit up the silver screen with her sexy, glamorous and charming looks during the era of 1970s. She has given some great blockbuster hits to the industry.
Parveen Wali aka Parveen Babi was born on 4th April 1949 in a Gujarati muslim family in Junagadh. She was an only child to her parents and was born after 14 years of her parents' marriage. Her father Wali Mohammad Babi used to work as an administrator for the Nawab of Junagadh. Unfortunately, he died when Parveen was just 7 years old. Parveen got her school education in Aurangabad and later did her graduation from St. Xavier's College in Ahmedabad.
Parveen started her film career with the film 'Charitra' in the year 1973. She was still studying then. She was launched by the director R.B. Ishara opposite cricketer Saleem Durrani. The film could not do well but Parveen was recognized by many filmmakers. She later worked with many popular directors and actors of that time. Her pair with Amitabh Bachchan was considered as a hit pair and the duo has given some of the greatest Bollywood hits of all times. Parveen and Amitabh's some of the hit films are 'Amar Akbar Anthony' , 'Majboor' ,'Kaala Patthar' ,'Deewaar ' and 'Kaalia . Parveen earned a lot of appreciation and recognition with these films. She also acted with Zeenat Aman and Shabana Azmi in 'Mahaan' and 'Ashanti'. She appeared on the cover page of the famous TIME magazine in 1976. She was the first Indian to appear on the cover page of TIME magazine to depict the changing visage of Indian cinema. Some of the other hit films in which Parveen appeared are 'Namak Halal ' ,'Kranti ' ,'Suhaag ' ,'The Burning Train ' ,'Meri Awaz Suno', 'Yeh Nazdeekiyan' ,'Khud-daar' ,'Shaan' ,'Do Aur Do Paanch', 'Pati Patni Aur Woh' etc.
Parveen featured in Hindi cinema for almost 13 years. But she was always entangled in various controversies. She stopped appearing in Hindi films and went to New York after been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She concentrated on spirituality and got influenced by the teachings of Osho and U. G. Krishnamurti. When she returned to India, she was unrecognizable as she put on oodles of weight. She again got entangled in the controversies when she filed the complaints against the dignitaries like Amitabh Bachchan and Bill Clinton for an attempt to kill her. The petitions were rejected by the court as there was no evidence found.
Over the years, her psychological illness became bad to worse and then she stopped appearing publicly. Her mental condition worsened after her mother's death. Though she never married throughout her life, she openly discussed her romantic involvement with the married men like Mahesh Bhatt, Danny Denzongpa and Kabir Bedi.
Parveen stayed lonely and aloof entire her life and till death. She died an isolated death. During her last days, she stopped meeting anybody and stayed alone in her posh apartment. When the milk and newspapers remain uncollected for three days, the residential society secretary called police and Parveen was found dead on 22nd January 2005.She was 55 at the time of death. She was suffering from diabetes and the complications in diabetes resulted in getting a gangrene on her left foot. According to the autopsy reports, she died due to multiple organ failure due to complications in diabetes. The police suspected that she would have died 72 hours before her dead body was found. It was a horrific death anybody would get said many Bollywood personalities when they heard the news of their Co-stars isolated death.
Lonely Parveen Babi could not get anybody's loyal company throughout her entire life and at the time of death as well.