Parveen Babi ( April 4, 1949 January 20, 2005) would have been 59 years old today. The end was tragic, more so as she died all alone in her Juhu apartment. Her death was said to have been caused by complications arising from her untreated diabetes. One of feet was found to have gangrene in it. But what probably isolated her from all around her was her schizophrenia, due to which she withdrew and became a recluse.

Parveen Babi arrived at a time when the Hindi film industry probably needed a break from the Sati Savitri heroine types. She along with Zeenat Aman, broke the mould and gave birth to a new breed of Hindi film heroines, who were modern and had no qualms about living their lives the way they pleased. It goes without saying that they did away with the saree for good as well. The term "sexy' would probably have been used for the first time to describe a Hindi film heroine with the advent of Parveen Babi and Zeenat.

Parveen Babi hailed from Junagadh, where her father was said to be an administrator with the Nawab of Junagdh and her early life was spent in Aurangabad and Ahmedabad. Though she was discovered by BR Ishara, she gradually moved onto bigger productions and directors like Manmohan Desai, Ramesh Sippy and Prakash Mehra. In fact, very soon in her career, she became a part of the big league and had Amitabh Bachchan, the reigning superstar as her co star in many films like Deewar, Majboor, Shaan, Mahaan, Kaalia, Do Aur Do Paanch, Khuddar and Amar Akbar Anthony. Shashi Kapoor was another hero that she starred with in films like Suhaag, Kranti and Namak Halal. She had a terrific screen presence and had the ability to ignite the screen with just her looks. This was a fact which did not go unnoticed by the filmmakers who fully exploited this aspect in their films. But what made more news than her acting career was her personal life and her reported link ups with director Mahesh Bhatt, actor Kabir Bedi and Danny Denzongpa. She was greatly influenced by philosopher UG Krishnamurthi and chucked her filmi career and left for the States. There is little known of her life there. When she returned to Mumbai in 1992, it was a Parveen babi, who one could not recognize. She had put on enormous amounts of weight and her schizophrenia seemed to be at its peak. She is believed to have gone to the press at that point of time and accused Amitabh Bachchan of conspiring to kill her. Till her death, she continued to live in Juhu, a recluse, dealing with her many known and unknown fears about people wanting to kill her.

Mahesh Bhatt, one of her lovers, made two films, which were based on his life with her. The first was Arth, where the role of the other woman, played superbly by the late Smita Patil, is supposed to have been based on Parveen Babi. He then went on to make Who Lamhe, after her death, which was based on the life and times of Parveen Babi. It was a tragic ending for such a bright and vivacious life. When one looks back at her life, one is filled with an utter sense of waste and remorse. Hence, it seems more appropriate to remember for all the good times that she gave us, whenever she came on the screen and lit it up with her sheer presence. May you be at peace, wherever you are Parveen Babi.