http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstor ... ~Babi~dead

Actress Parveen Babi dead
Saturday, 22 January , 2005, 17:27
Mumbai: Actress Parveen Babi’s body was on Saturday discovered by the police when they opened the door of her residence at Juhu, a senior police officer said.

DCP Amitav Gupta said that Parveen’s neighbours complained about the unattended milk packets and newspapers that were lying outside her house for last two days.

"We opened the door of her house with the help of a duplicate key and found her body," Gupta said adding that the preliminary enquiry ruled out any foul play.

Very sad news! First heroine to die from Amitabh's classic era... I kind of watched her films as a child... Seems like the end of an era!

I wonder why/how she died? I think she was too old to bother suiciding, and nobody cared enough about her to murder her... Anyway, there was always controversy around her, and so be it in her death...

Bollywood star Parveen Babi dies


Parveen Babi was a glamourous style icon of the 1970s

Bollywood actress Parveen Babi has been found dead at her home in Mumbai (Bombay).

Police discovered her body after breaking into her apartment, where she lived alone. She appeared to have died of natural causes.

Babi starred in more than 50 Hindi films including 1975's Deewaar.

On film she came to represent the bohemian Indian woman, unafraid to smoke or drink on camera at a time when these were considered taboo.

Unconventional looks

Babi was cast in her first movie, Charitira, in 1973 while still a student at Ahmedabad University.

While not a big box office hit, it drew attention to Babi's unconventional Western looks and she won dozens of subsequent roles.

Babi became best known for her performances alongside Bollywood's biggest star Amitabh Bachchan in films such as Deewaar, Majboor and Amar Akbar Anthony.

In 1977 she was featured on the cover of US magazine Time as the face of the modern Indian woman, and reached the height of her fame in the early 1980s.

As her film career waned Babi made few public appearances and lived in virtual seclusion.

Police broke into her home on Saturday after her neighbours claimed that her apartment door had not been opened for two days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainmen ... 198219.stm

Parveen Babi found dead in Juhu residence

Glamorous heroine of yesteryears Parveen Babi, who mesmerised thousands of Bollywood fans for two decades with her performances in blockbusters like Deewar, Namak Halaal and Amar Akbar Anthony, was on Saturday found dead at her Juhu residence. She was nearly 50.

Neighbours found newspapers and milk packets lying outside her flat since the last two days and informed police, which opened the house door with a duplicate key and found her body.

Police suspect that she must have died three days back. Though the cause of her death was not immediately known, police sources ruled out any foul play.

Parveen, who entered films in the early seventies, had a history of mental illness and confined herself to her house for the last three years after returning from abroad, where she spent a decade.

She belonged to the royal Nawab family of Junagad and did her schooling from Ahmedabad. Parveen was known more as a glamorous heroine than a serious actress.

Parveen entered Bollywood in 1973. Her first film was Charitra in the lead role with former cricketer Salim Durrani. Thereafter, she did not look back. She appeared in Sanjay Khan's film Chandi Sona and shot into limelight with her splendid performance in Deewar along with Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor.

Controversies surrounding Parveen Babi

Early 70s: Parveen Babi first became controversial with her sensational interviews. She was the first heroine to openly take drugs and talk about it. Like many in her generation, Babi openly advocated free love. She gave candid quotes about her affairs with married men like Danny Denzongpa, Mahesh Bhatt and Kabir Bedi, whom she even ran away to Italy with. However, it is alleged that she was madly in love with superstar Amitabh Bachchan and unable to bear him rejecting her advances, she fell into a vicious circle of unsatisfactory relationships.

Mid 70's: Bizarre stories about Babi began making the rounds in film glossies. She was allegedly suffering from Schizophrenia and believed that there was a giant conspiracy against her and that people wanted her dead. She was involved in an intense and destructive relationship with Mahesh Bhatt and suffered a nervous breakdown.

1979: Babi sought mental and spiritual solace through alternative contemporary spirituality. She followed Osho the Indian "Love Guru" for a few years and became involved with the teachings of UG Krishnamurti. Meanwhile, the relationship with Bhatt ended and he made Arth, a semi-autobiographical look at his extramarital relationship with Babi.


Parveen Babi's Schizophrenia led her to believe
there was a conspiracy against her

1983: Babi, the emotional gypsy, mysteriously flew off again, this time to the US. Some claimed it was her association with Krishnamurthy, the release of Bhatt's Arth, and her disturbed state of mind that prompted her to abandon everything. But Babi never confirmed the veracity of any media speculation.

2000: When she returned after an extended stay in New York, a now-bloated Babi lodged a complaint with the Bhoiwada police station against 34 parties, including actor Amitabh Bachchan and former US President Bill Clinton, who, she accused of conspiring to kill her.

2002: She again hit the headlines when she filed an affidavit claiming to have gathered clinching evidence against actor Sanjay Dutt for his alleged involvement in 1993 bomb blast case. However, she did not turn up on August 5 morning in the designated TADA court in response to summons.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com

Sad demise of an iconic 70/80s individual of popular Indian cinema. Kind of half expected some sort of comeback like many other aging stars have made recently. Not to be.

Ali

Many claimants to Parveen Babi's body



Former Bollywood actress Parveen Babi's body lay unclaimed on Sunday, a day after she was found dead in her Juhu flat.

Many of her old friends, including some from the film industry, and distant relatives have been approaching the police to take custody of her body.

Police sources said "we will not give her body to anyone unless s/he is a close and direct relative. And if no such relative comes forward, we will perform the last rites after few days".

The police are apparently trying to avoid a Suraiya-like situation, in which many relatives and friends had staked claim to the property of the singer who died in January last year.

A close associate said that he was not aware that Parveen Babi had any known direct relative.

"Babi did not have any direct relative that I know of. Her father died when she was very young and her mother died three years ago. She was also the only child of her parents," said Bharat, who was Babi's make-up man for ten years from 1974.

Her will and the 2200 square feet flat, whose value runs into crores, promise to become the bone of contention between her relative and friends.

Sources said that she had made a will, which is in her flat.

The police have now sealed the flat and are conducting investigations, sources said.

Doctors who examined the body said the actress must have been dead for almost 36 hours before the body was found on Saturday afternoon.

Police sources said that apparently no "relatives were present when she was dying of starvation, her financial condition was bad and she had no food to eat. Nobody came to her aid then. Now everybody seems to be coming ahead to take custody of her dead body."

Her postmortem report revealed that she had not eaten anything before she died. Doctors only found some liquid in her stomach.

One relative, Aneesa Babi, who is a struggling artiste in the film industry, said, "She was my role model, I was inspired by her. We never met, but my father always told me about her success. Like Parveen Babi, I belong to Junagarh; and my grandmother also belongs to the royal family of Kheda, in Gujarat".

Aneesa also approached Juhu police station with her parents to claim the body.

Union Sports Minister Sunil Dutt visited the Cooper hospital mortuary, where the body is kept, and told the media that if no one from her family came ahead to claim the body, then the film industry would take up the responsibility of performing the last rites.

Film producer Mahesh Bhatt has also approached the police in connection with the matter. Bhatt is said to have been very close to Parveen Babi at one time.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/23babi.htm

Bollywood missing at Parveen Babi's funeral



Former actress Parveen Babi, who was found dead at her Juhu residence on Saturday, was buried next to her mother at a cemetery in Santacruz, a suburb of Mumbai, at around 9.40pm on Sunday evening.

The last rites were performed by Babi's relatives, who had come from Gujarat to claim her body.

None of Mumbai's film fraternity, except her former lover Kabir Bedi, Mahesh Bhatt and Danny, were present on the occasion.

Bedi, paying his last respects, said the actress always had a troubled life. He said even after their relationship ended they nursed deep respect for each other.

Earlier, police handed over the body to a relative from Balashinore in Gujarat.

"We gave the body to her cousin sister Farhad Sultan Babi," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Amitabh Gupta.

"A few of the relatives, who had come to claim the body, knew each other and agreed to handing over the body to Farhad. After verification, we handed over the body for cremation," he said.

Police said Farhad also produced photographs and documents to prove her relationship.

Farhad's father is said to be the actress's first cousin on the maternal side.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/23babi2.htm

Thanks to Rana and Ali for their comments.

More than 20 comments by Zulmies at the death of AMRISH PURI (aged 71 and therefore not so untimely) and only 2 people so far have bothered commenting on PARVEEN BABI (aged only 50).

Admittedly, she has been away from the scene for a while. But the response in Zulm has been so parallel to her death - 36 hours of a decomposing body and no one to care less!

Perhaps heroines are only appreciated for their beauty and once old or dead nobody cares...

So many Amitabh fans here... How could they not pay respect to the heroines that he made his best films with?

Anyway, I won't bore people with more articles, incase I get accused of having another mid-life crisis.

Don't be disappointed.

1) There is no competition. Both news are sad and so are people. Parveen Babi passing away news has come only on the weekend and zulmies are normally more active in the weekdays. Moreover, not everyone expresses his/ her feelings in writing; I'm one of them.

2) Parveen Babi definitely was favourite of many. Anyone I talked to, sure was shocked and saddned. She sure was a good actress. I can't think of any films/ scenes where I noticed that she was acting. She was natural.

BTW, Parveen Babi was under 50. I read somewhere, 48.

How sad that she died alone like that, and that so few from the cine field attended her funeral.

I preferred Parveen Babi to Zeenat Aman in their respective hey days. I always thought DEEWAR was one of her best performances. However I also liked her performances in an oddball movie like RAKSHA (Jeetendra), ofcourse RANG BIRANGI and THE BURNING TRAIN. I thought her flair for comedy was never really exploited well. Her pairing with Amitabh Bachchan in films like AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY was out of the world. The both of them really made a terrific pair. Its unfortunate that she suffered from all those emotional imbalances. Not having known her or of her in a personal capacity it is impossible to know one guesses.

May her soul rest in peace, and hopefully she is in a far better place now!

Take it easy bro, I am sure everyone shares your sentiment - in words or in silence. Though I have to say I am really disappointed with bollywood for their blatantly poor response !

whereever she is I am sure she will RIP.

Rita - How come you have missed her in two all-time greatest classics: Yash Chopra's Deewar and Manmohan Desai's Amar Akbar Anthony, both with Amitabh Bachchan?


Parveen Babi in Namak Halaal

Apart from Do Aur Do Panch and Rang Birangi!

Tribute to Parveen Babi



Kabir Bedi

What can I say? Even though I was not in touch with her, her 'being no more' comes as a rude shock. We had shared a long relationship and lived together for years. Initially when I moved to Italy and England, she was with me, but she chose to return to Bollywood.

After a while, she went abroad herself. You know how it is, once you are out of a relationship, and married, it's hard to be in touch. I knew the details of her life only until she was with me. From what I hear, she had a number of problems. In fact the last time I saw her, was at the memorial of Protima.

She came to pay her respects. Even then, she wasn't looking very well. Anyone with whom you have shared a long part of your life, remains with you emotionally, and her passing way is a huge shock. Looking back, I think she was a very complex and volatile person but whatever her problems were, they're not worth discussing at this point. I worked with her in one film called Bullet.

I like to remember her as, a small town girl who came from Junagarh and made it in the bright lights of Bombay. She lived life on her own terms and that's never easy. So, I think whatever the circumstances of her death, she certainly left her mark.

Mahesh Bhatt

It hit me like a brick when I first heard the news. It's such a coincidence. I had been talking about her to the director of the National Police Academy, pouring my heart out to him about the time when Parveen had her mental breakdown. How strange that she should die soon after. It took me a while to recover my breath. The suddenness was difficult to take because the last I had heard, she was well in Bangalore. For me, Parveen died twice—the first time when she had her first mental breakdown and was with me. The personality I had known completely collapsed, like a house of cards.

All my attempts to put the pieces back together were in vain. Then we parted ways. I have chronicled this intense phase of my life inmy film, Arth, which became the start of my journey as a film-maker. The reality and the subsequent breakdown of a beautiful woman, right in front of my eyes, was so intense, that I had to exorcise it in some way, and film was the best mode. The turbulence and intensity of the time I spent with her is beautifully recorded in the film. I shall always relish the fact that my first claim to fame was as Parveen's boyfriend. She remains one of the beacons of my life. Her generosity, kindness, were unparalleled.

We lost touch, but we touched base again in the 1990s when the Gulf war was on. I had bumped into her at a book shop in in Mumbai. We exchanged looks but didn't greet each other. She had become a completely different personality. I would like to remember her as the girl who brought Bollywood to the cover of Time magazine and who died an anonymous death. She made the choice.

Zeenat Aman



She was such a beautiful and successful person in her time, it is sad that the end came like this when no one was there for her. She had become a bit of a recluse in the last decade and we had lost touch. Although we were pitted against each other as rivals by the media in our time, we shared a very amicable relationship. We worked in Ashanti and Mahaan and got along very well on the sets and in real life.

Sanjay Khan

When she first came to my office she managed to shock everybody with her hippie looks. We decided to cast her in Chandi Sona as she was very photogenic. Time magazine had her on its cover in March 1977. Gerald Clarke, the then assosciate editor of Time, was a personal friend and when dining with me one day told me that they were keen to have a Bollywood heroine on the cover. I recommended Parveen's name and when the magazine called her up, she was quite surprised. I lost touch with her soon after. The last time I met her was ten years ago. I feel very sorry that she died lonely and sick.

Yash Chopra



It is the end of a very big star. I have directed two films with her—Deewar and Kala Patthar. She was a very nice person and a thorough professional. She was also very graceful. She used to get along with everybody. Suddenly one day she was missing. I don't know what happened. It must be her depression and loneliness. Her death is very tragic as she has no one to call her own.

Hema Malini



She was such a joy to be around. On the sets of Do Aur Do Paanch , she would have us in splits with her pranks and perfect comic timing. She was a trendsetter and was well-turned out in manner and attire. Parveen will always be remembered as a style icon by her contemporaries.

Rakhee

I'm saddened at the death of a beautiful and wonderful person. I have made only two films with Parveen and remember her as a very co-operative and cheerful human being. After that, she did not meet anyone. It was her own wish to remain cut off from the world. May she rest in peace now.

Jeetendra

She was such a beautiful person. Parveen represented the bohemian Indian woman on celluloid, unafraid to smoke or drink on screen at a time when these were considered taboo.

Source: http://www.timesofindia.com