Parveen Babi was an Indian actress and was one of the most successful Bollywood actresses in the 1970s
She was born on April 4th, 1949 in Junagadh, Gujarat, India.
Parveen started out as a model in 1972 and made her film debut in 1973 in the film Charitra and went on to appear in almost sixty films.
Her last film was Akarshan in 1988 and afterwards she left the film industry to move to New York.
In New York she became associated with the spiritual philosopher U. G. Krishnamurti. 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 her former co-star, Amitabh Bachchan, of conspiring 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 intimate relationships with married men: director Mahesh Bhatt, actors Kabir Bedi, and Danny Denzongpa. She was also rumoured to have a relationship with her co star Amitabh Bachchan. Mahesh Bhatt made Arth (1982), a semi-autobiographical film about his extra-marital relationship with Babi, and Woh Lamhe (2006) based on actual facts about his relationship with her. These experiences triggered of schizophrenia which was not completely treated or supported and ultimately resulted in her final loneliness without any support system.
She was found dead in her Mumbai apartment on January 22nd, 2005.
The police ruled she had died from what appeared to be complications from diabetes.
