PARVEEN BABI – RAPACIOUS EXPLOITATION
BY MAHESH BHATT
A fake friend, deviously misleads talented, beautiful and glamourous
Parveen Babi, a famous star, educated, simple yet highly independent woman but
could not understand the pettiness of Mahesh Bhatt. For his personal and
professional gain, Mahesh Bhatt exploited Parveen Babi blatantly in the past
and continues to do so, a ‘curator’ of her memories and life, his neurotic
obsession in portraying her ‘story’ every few years, delving time and again
only on one sad aspect of her life. Bhatt cannot visualise the rise of a middle-class
girl to become the topmost heroine of her time, a girl with no interest in
films in the beginning, yet with her talent and dedication became an
accomplished artist, an effortless performer of comedy and drama.
Mahesh Bhatt, an unsuccessful director befriended a ‘STAR’
with sole intent to become famous and successful, the germs of deception and
scheming duplicity, took advantage of a vulnerable and lonely Parveen Babi. Bhatt, a
pseudo-intellectual and a glib orator, his fame as a creator is restricted to
few movies in 80’s with nothing to showcase thereafter. ‘Arth’ a semi-autobiographical
piece about his relationship with Parveen was a critical and public success,
followed by few disasters based on Parveen’s persona, recently announced that
he will make web debut with a project on his relationship with Parveen Babi, devoid
of any new creative spark, he is fanatically obsessed to degrade late actress frequently.
Unfortunately, the sufferer in their story was Parveen, with so much public humiliation,
the symptoms of depression started under the spell of Bhatt as he exploited her
loneliness, psychological pressures of stardom, fame and her inherent weakness
to deal with personal anguish due to some breakups. Celebrities and famous
personalities commonly undergo ‘Super Stardom’ traumas and anxiety, a condition
which was a societal taboo to acknowledge till recent times, however with
advancement in effective clinical methods and social evolution depression is being
openly diagnosed and treated.
'I was 21 or 22, my marriage was a failure, I had a daughter,
I was living in sin (with Parveen Babi), had made a mess of my life, had four
films which were disasters. Unable to cope with that humiliating reality, I ran
for comfort to UG Krishnamurti. I even introduced Parveen Babi to him, who had this
sort of schizophrenia, a nervous breakdown. … '
Mahesh Bhatt in The Telegraph
(May be Mahesh Bhatt had degree in Clinical Psychology)
'I got into LSD and drugs when my films were not working. It
was later when I met U G Krishnamurthy, who made me realise that society has
its parameters and we have to play in its boundaries.'
Mahesh Bhatt in Times of India
Manifestly it can be assumed that Parveen Babi was labelled
as a schizophrenic by powerful story tellers in Indian film Industry, the non-existent
medical reports and only diagnosis of ‘Sort of Schizophrenia’ by Bhatt and his handling of the ‘treatment’
along with a Guru only escalated her vulnerability and perhaps ‘ARTH’ was the
meanest act which exacerbated her condition.
'Arth' made Mr Bhatt, it un-made Parveen Babi. I do think if real life experience has to be adapted into a film or a book, it should be at the cost of hurting yourself, not others'.
Khalid Mohamed - Indian Journalist
'I have seen Mahesh Bhatt in gutters and I have seen him pick
himself. I was that child who opened the door for her father, when he came back
after drinking for three days.'
Pooja Bhatt
Things seemed to disintegrate for Parveen from 1977 onwards
after breakup with Kabir Bedi, unfortunately found solace in Mahesh Bhatt, a
person who was totally unstable and on drugs. Bhatt with his erratic and
unsteady frame of mind, escaped with her to seek the blessings of his spiritual
mentor UG for his failures, but not for Parveen’s prompt treatment. Certainly,
in his fragile and drugged stupor, Bhatt assumed spiritual path was a cure for
Parveen’s travails and did not opt for scientific, logical analysis and
treatment. Sadly, in her fragility she believed in the neo spiritualism of UG
and his disciple Mahesh, which worked till she was in that trance, however the
moment she returned to normal life and work, the apprehension and anxious
perturbation started bothering her again. Gradually, Bhatt’s deceit,
hypocrisies and selfishness became apparent to Parveen and she drifted away
from him as he bruised her emotionally, Mahesh Bhatt was a liability in
Parveen Babi’s short life. However, she continued her spiritual journey with UG
for some years.
Her innocence, naivety and habit to hide her emotions,
personal and professional anxieties made Parveen extremely depressed, nervous
and fearful as she went through the agonizing association of her life with Mahesh
Bhatt. Parveen Babi was lively, spirited, vigorous and independent, however she
was hurt profoundly and crumbled so easily by Bhatt’s unfortunate antics.
'Mahesh was also travelling with us, chaperoning me. But I
grew further and further away from him. Mahesh was incapable of coping with the
situation. He seemed more concerned about himself than about me, and I could
sense it. This even made things worse for me.'
Parveen Babi
The Confessions of Parveen Babi
The Illustrated Weekly of India by Pritish Nandy
In her confessions, Parveen accepted her condition honestly during
those tiring and troubled times, it is heart breaking to perceive that there
was nothing she could do to heal herself from traumatic and tragic
imperfections. She was candid and sincere about painful, strenuous and unhappy
situations in her life, wanted to change for better, was always back in Mumbai
in between her spiritual journeys.
So far, we have only seen Bhatt’s one sided negative concocted
presentations of Parveen as neurotic and obsessive character. Parveen Babi
could not comprehend his sly mind, fell a prey to crafty intrigue, indirectly culpable
for her descent from the pedestal of stardom. Unfortunately, she had a
relationship with him, that aroused her emotions.
It was no Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra
and Mark Anthony or Salim and Anarkali memorable love saga that Mahesh Bhatt
has to re-tell the story to the world, regularly.
Everybody is aware that such relationships/affairs are common
in Bollywood. Parveen Babi had few romantic relationships in Indian film Industry,
she was very discreet, kept dignified silence about men in her life and
remained friends with them till last. Parveen Babi presumably, never forgave
Mahesh Bhatt, years back she gave him the cold shoulder in Crossword Bookshop, Mumbai,
perfectly she managed to banish him from her life.
Parveen Babi is not an Intellectual and Personal Property of Mahesh Bhatt.
Mahesh Bhatt continues to exploit her professionally but also
dishonoured her in life and death. Parveen Babi has been long gone and it is basic human courtesy to preserve and protect her memory.
Anuradha Singh
15th Dec, 2019
(The quotes are in public domain)
Copyright©2020 Anuradha Singh.
All rights reserved. This article or any portion thereof can not be reproduced
or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of
the author.
I always knew a one-side narrative was being forcefully pushed to eclipse the legacy of Parveen Babi and satiate the personal and professional greed of Bhatt.The saga of Parveen Babi bears uncanny resemblance with that of Sushant Singh Rajput's relationship with Rhea and his tragic death.In SSR's case,Bhatt has tried to give more credibility to his narrative by having the psychiatrist's medical records with him that treated SSR with Bipolar Disorder.As a human,I feel helpless and very cheated when a vicious man like Bhatt has made it his mission of life to again ruin SSR's hard-earned legacy.SSR's family had guessed the situation,tried to intervene but to no avail.At times like this,one really wonders-When will God punish him?
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