Parveen, as she was

Parveen Babi talks about acting and being compared to Zeenat Aman in this interview in Mumbai, India, 32 years ago

Controversial Indian actress and style icon Parveen Babi died this week, isolated in her terraced apartment in Mumbai. Once beautiful with a splendid figure, she later became a recluse.

But when I met her 32 years ago, she showed promise and charm. There was no trace of the paranoia that was to engulf her later. It seemed as if she had all the time in the world to make her name.

Excerpts from an old interview, made especially poignant by current circumstances:

Are you not nervous of facing the camera?
I had modelled for almost all top advertising agencies when I was a college student in Ahmedabad. So there is no reason for me to be shy in front of the camera.

Have you always wanted to be a star?
No. I never felt I would become a film star. I was only interested in acting on stage. I have many stage plays to my credit. My plays in Ahmedabad were very popular.

When I was doing my MA in literature I had a chance encounter with B.R. Ishara who had come to see one of my plays. [He introduced Parveen to Bollywood].

What would you have become if you had not joined films?
I’d have joined the rank of the literati or become a top freelance journalist. I have a deep interest in literature and had begun a post-graduate course in literature. But I skipped my course after the first year to involve myself in films.

You are very simply dressed now, without make-up or jewellery. It is very different from your screen image.
I like to be informal and simple at least off-screen. You can’t equate my character in films with my individual personality.

I’ve heard you sing English and Hindi songs in between takes. Do you plan to do your own singing in films?
I don’t think I should take the risk of singing in a film, at least not in the initial stages. [She did not, ever.]

Do you like being called a duplicate Zeenat Aman (the other screen siren of the time with a similar Western appearance)?
I have my own individuality, my own style and above all, a particular personality quite different from that of Zeenat. I admire her for her talent but it is not quite complimentary to hear film folks comparing me to her just because I look sexy.

Will you continue to model and do plays?
I’d love to but the greatest handicap is time. Right now I’m more interested in acting in films. It has become my sole career. But I’d love to stage plays and act in them occasionally because the stage is the mother of screen.

You can gauge the reaction of the audience immediately and manage to correct mistakes you may have unwittingly made. As far as modelling is concerned, I have decided to call it quits.