Throwback Tuesdays: When Parveen Babi made Danny Denzongpa’s girlfriend wary of her

An actress who changed the way female actors were presented on the big screen back in the 70s and 80s was Parveen Babi. The gorgeous star who was a part of several films like Charitra,  Majboor, Deewar and over 50 movies of different genres. Parveen was also known for her style and fabulous looks. After her breakthrough performance in Majboor, she became a shining star of Bollywood. However, the flipside of stardom affected Parveen’s personal life too. Her relationships with Danny Denzongpa, Kabir Bedi, Mahesh Bhatt were the talk of the town back in the days, 

Among her former flames, Danny Denzonpa shared details about his relationship with Parveen in a flashback interview with Filmfare. The two dated for a few years and also, lived together for that duration. The suave actor had admitted about living together with Babi back in the days in the same interview. He said, “We were two young kids and we lived together for four years. That was big news those days.” Later, Danny went on to elaborate on how their relationship took a turn for the worst and they decided to part ways. 

The actor said, “We had a wonderful time, but later we grew apart and parted on a good note. We remained friends.” Back then, Danny used to stay in the same building as Parveen and often, she would drop by to meet him. The actor remembered how Parveen would continue to call him over for dinners, despite their break up. Danny mentioned in the candid interview that he had moved on in his life after dating Parveen and found love in Kim. (Kim Yashpal)

Danny mentioned that Parveen’s constant endeavours to stay in touch with him, despite their official break up, made his then girlfriend, Kim extremely wary. He said, “Parveen would keep inviting me for dinner. I had a new girlfriend (actor Kim) those days who was wary of Parveen.” Danny remembered an incident when he and Kim returned home from sets only to find Parveen sitting in his bedroom and watching a film on his VCR back then. Danny said in the same interview that such a behaviour of one’s ex would make his current partner extremely uncomfortable. 

Remembering the incident, Danny said, “If your ex keeps walks into the house anytime, it would be difficult for any girl to accept. I would pick up Kim from the sets after pack up and reach home only to find Parveen in my bedroom watching a movie on the VCR. I asked Parveen not to do it. But she’d say, ‘We don’t have anything between us, we are friends.” Danny mentioned that he asked Mahesh Bhatt, who was dating Parveen at that time, to put some sense into her about her behaviour.

Further, Danny went on to recall the first time he noticed something wrong with Parveen. He mentioned that he had gone over to her house for dinner and that he started blowing on one of the silver conches on the table, Parveen got scared. Danny added that it was also at that very moment that Mahesh Bhatt also mentioned to him that Parveen has started to get frightened of small things.He said, “When I began blowing one, she got frightened. That’s when Mahesh said, ‘She gets easily frightened these days and is turning into a recluse.” 

Danny even recalled how Mahesh Bhatt asked him to talk to Parveen when she was unwell as she considered him a close friend. He mentioned that doctors would first come to his house and then they would go to meet Parveen. Danny recounted how once Mahesh Bhatt told him that Parveen is going hysterical and they had to call for UG Krishnamuthi, who she used to believe in back then to calm her down. In the same interview, Danny even spilled the beans about his total cut off with Babi. He mentioned that Parveen accused him of being Amitabh Bachchan’s agent and one fine day, cut off all ties with him. 

Back then, there were several theories floating around about Parveen Babi and her mental illness. Some believed she wasn’t in her sane mind while others reported her to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The gorgeous and shining star of the 70s and 80s ended up having a lonely demise. On January 22, 2005, Parveen was found dead in her apartment in Juhu and it was neighbours who alerted the police after no one picked up the milk and newspaper for 3 days. Remembering the funeral that Danny attended, he said, “For someone who had so many filmmakers queuing up for her, there were none that day. Just a handful of us, including Kabir, Mahesh, Johnny Bakshi, Ranjeet and producer Harish Shah (Kala Sona)."