Flashback Friday: Danny Denzongpa talks about Parveen Babi, the woman he once loved

As has been well-chronicled actor Danny Denzongpa and the late Parveen Babi were in a relationship for few years during the ’70s. Danny, the perfect gentleman he is, has only fond memories of her and describes her as ‘a nice human being and very beautiful’

Here's a #throwback interview of the dashing actor from the #Filmfare archives...

“We were two young kids and we lived together for four years. That was big news those days. We had a wonderful time, but later we grew apart and parted on a good note. We remained friends,” he recalls. Parveen later dated Kabir Bedi and then Mahesh Bhatt and lived in the same colony, Kalumal Estate in Juhu, as Danny. “Parveen would keep inviting me for dinner. I had a new girlfriend (actor Kim) those days who was wary of Parveen. Also, 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’,” he laughs adding he then had to ask Mahesh, also his friend, to make Parveen see sense.
He remembers the first time he noticed something abnormal about Parveen. ‘I had been for dinner at her place. There were silver conches on the table. 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’.” A few days later Mahesh confided in Danny again. “‘Parveen’s unwell. She cares for you and you must come over and give her support’ said Mahesh,” recalls Danny. The doctors would then be first called to Danny’s house. After the discussion, one doctor would go up to meet her. One day Mahesh called Danny saying Parveen had turned hysterical. “We sent for guru UG Krishnamuthi immediately. He held her hand and said, ‘Parveen you’re perfectly alright, there’s nothing wrong with you’. And she was fine. She believed in him. Whenever Parveen needed me, I was always there.”
Danny goes on to reveal why Parveen cut off ties with him. “One day she happened to read an interview where Amitji (Bachchan) had mentioned that I was a good friend of his. That was it. When I went to meet her the next time, she looked at me through the keyhole and refused to let me in calling me ‘his agent’ (Parveen was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had developed irrational fears vis-à-vis several celebrities including Bachchan). She was frightened of me too.” Years later, Danny did attend her funeral. “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).” Sad but true…