45 Facts About Parveen Babi

Parveen Babi was educated at St Xavier's College and began her modeling career in 1971.

Parveen Babi became popular in the mid-1970s, with notable roles in films like Majboor and Deewaar.

Parveen Babi remained unmarried after a string of relationships with Danny Denzongpa, Kabir Bedi and Mahesh Bhatt.

Parveen Babi was believed to have been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which came to the attention of the public, following various incidents.

Parveen Sultana Wali Mohammad Khanji Babi was born on 4 April 1952 in Junagadh in the Saurashtra State of the Republic of India to a noble family, in the Babi dynasty.

Parveen Babi's father was Vali Mohammed Khan Babi, an administrator of Junagadh State and a relative of Muhammad Mahabat Khan III.

Parveen Babi's father died from throat cancer in 1959, while her mother died in 2001.

Parveen Babi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology and a Master of Arts in English.

Unknown to Sahu, Ishara announced that Parveen Babi would make her acting debut in his film Charitra which was released in 1973, opposite cricketer Salim Durrani.

Ultimately, Sahu and Ishara reached an agreement, allowing Parveen Babi to begin shooting with Sahu, who hired Roshan Taneja to teach her the basics of acting.

Parveen Babi relocated to Bombay and lived with Sahu and his family while shooting.

Parveen Babi had her breakthrough with her portrayal of Anita, a prostitute, in the action crime film Deewaar, which emerged as one of the year's highest-grossing films in Hindi cinema.

Parveen Babi appeared in numerous successful films throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s.

Aroon Purie of India Today criticised Parveen Babi's performance, remarking that her "acting repertoire in the film ranges from opening her mouth to show happiness and licking her upper lip suggestively to show ecstasy".

Parveen Babi's career peaked at the time when most heroines were engulfed in Indian attributes, and Parveen 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 was the first Bollywood actress to appear on the front page of Time magazine in July 1976, for which she made history; the cover has since become iconic.

Parveen Babi worked as an interior decorator from 1983 to 1992.

Parveen Babi contributed to newspapers and magazines, from 1969 to 1993.

Parveen Babi lived in a penthouse apartment in Bombay, living affluently from sound financial investments.

Parveen Babi often questioned certain religious norms, such as eating pork, and believed that morality and kindness were more important than adherence to dogma.

Parveen Babi converted to Christianity on 21 June 1997 and was baptised at the All Saints' Church in Malabar Hill.

In 1969, Parveen Babi became engaged to her distant cousin from Pakistan, Jamil Khan, which was ended by her mother during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, devastating her.

In 1972, Parveen Babi dated Neville Damania, the bassist of the band Purple Flowers, before she relocated to Bombay, to pursue a career in the film industry.

In September 1975, Parveen Babi started dating actorKabir Bedi, who was having an open relationship with his wife Protima Bedi, at the time.

In 1976, following the success of his television series Sandokan, Parveen Babi travelled with Bedi to Italy and Spain and in 1977 to Yugoslavia.

Protima would often ask Parveen Babi to look after her two children, while she was in Odisha.

Parveen Babi was first introduced to U G Krishnamurti, through Mahesh Bhatt in 1979 and subsequently developed a close mentorship and friendship with him.

Mahesh Bhatt revealed that Parveen Babi had her first panic attack in 1969, during communal riots.

Parveen Babi claimed that Amitabh Bachchan, was attempting to kill her and the room was bugged.

On 30 July 1983, Babi left India and travelled to various countries, for a spiritual journey with U G Krishnamurti and his friend Valentine and lived in Los Angeles, Houston, London and Switzerland, for some time.

Parveen Babi broke off her relationships with most of her friends and family members and became reclusive.

On 7 April 1984, Babi was suspected at John F Kennedy International Airport, after she failed to submit her identification papers, the authorities handcuffed her and kept her in a general ward, with 30 other mentally disturbed patients.

Parveen Babi wrote a complaint in 2002, in which she accused several prominent figures: Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Clinton, Charles, Prince of Wales and Al Gore, along with the US and British governments, Roman Catholic Church, the CIA, CBI, Mossad and the BJP of conspiring to kill her, but her petition in court was dismissed, due to lack of evidence.

Parveen Babi was found dead on 22 January 2005 at the age of 50, after her residential society secretary alerted the police, that she had not collected groceries and newspapers from her doorstep for three days.

Parveen Babi was found to have gangrene on her left foot, a complication from diabetes.

Parveen Babi was buried at Juhu Muslim cemetery in Santacruz, Mumbai.

Parveen Babi is regarded as one of the most glamorous and beautiful actresses of Indian cinema.

Parveen Babi never shied away from portraying roles of women having a live-in relationship or consuming alcohol openly, both of which were taboo in those times.

Bachchan and Parveen Babi complemented each other in the heady first years of the Angry Young Man phenomenon.

Parveen Babi was among the most stylish and beautiful actress of Hindi cinema.

Parveen Babi was the first Indian star to be featured on the cover of the Asia edition of TIME in 1976.

Parveen Babi is considered among the hottest Bollywood actresses of all time.

Parveen Babi was much more than who she dated or what she said when she was unwell.

Parveen Babi was always impeccable, not overdoing it even once.

In 2006, the 37th International Film Festival of India honoured Parveen Babi by screening her films.