Mahesh Bhatt speaks his heart out on Parveen Babi

Mahesh Bhatt speaks about his relationship with Parveen Babi.

“I was watching the last scene of ‘Woh Lamhe’ in my editing room when it dawned on me why human beings have always tried to keep their dead alive – we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us. ‘Woh Lamhe’ is my last good bye to the memories of Parveen Babi. A woman whom I loved and lost.

Nostalgia is pain. The day Parveen died, I realised that despite the claims I made to myself, her memory had not withered within me with the passage of time.

Praveen’s breakdown is an old story. But I wonder if anyone could imagine what it is like to live with a person who is going mad.

Parveen BabiThe morning I left Parveen’s house before it all began comes back to haunt me. She was off to her shoot for Prakash Mehra’s film… and she kissed me good-bye. Little did I know that it was the last time I would see her as the Parveen that I knew.

How can I ever forget that heartbreaking image of her, when I walked in to the house that evening, and found Parveen, in make up and a filmy costume, cowering in a corner, with a knife in her hand, shivering with fear?

She looked like an animal, one that I had never seen before. ‘Close the door Mahesh,’ she whispered. ‘They are coming to kill us. Close the door quickly!’

And with those words ended my days of love and splendour, sin and passion with Parveen. I was looking into the eyes of madness and the face of death. Because the person that I knew had died, and with that our relationship, as we had known it, died too.

Parveen’s illness was genetic. The chances of her recovery were slim. It was in those terrible times that I discovered for myself that it is we who push the so-called ‘mentally disturbed’ to commit suicide.

Our attempt in this film is not just to make you grieve, but to leave an indelible memory of the essence of an exceptional woman who lived in another time and place.

‘Woh Lamhe’ has erupted from the deepest part of my being. And that part of me was triggered suddenly by Parveen’s death and the subsequent discovery of a tape, which my daughter Pooja found in my first wife’s house.

Parveen Babi - oldThe tape contained a letter that Parveen had recorded and sent me, in which she talked about her approaching illness, her loneliness and her need to get out of the entertainment business. The silences between her words spoke to me more eloquently than her words did.

The only regret I have is that I couldn’t see her illness coming. Looking back, I realise now that there were so many signs that I just failed to read.

Suddenly, she bathed, dressed herself in a white kurta pyjama, rolled a small mat on to the carpet and did something I had never seen her do in my three and a half years with her. She began her ‘namaaz’.

The sight was mesmerising. Her silhouette against the glow of the morning sky, her trembling lips reciting the prayers, her tears of grief metamorphosing into fervent tears of devotion… still play on the screen of my memory.

I think it was the killings of 1969 that she was referring to … You do not know what it is to lie curled up under a pile of mattresses, fearing that any moment the mob could stop the vehicle, pull me out and rape me,’ she said in a tone that sent a shiver down my spine.

When I first started to write and make movies, I felt everything could be explained. Now I see how untrue it would be if I claim to have been able to tell you the story of my life with Parveen Babi.

Life does not end. But films do. We leave the characters of a movie at the zenith of their lives or in the hours of their deaths, and there they remain frozen in time.”

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113 Comments

  • Hi All.

    The movie woh lamhe is a superb one. It is haunting, and great musical hits.

    But Mahesh Bhatt seems like a weak spirited good for nothing who dramatises his life’s events.

    Parveen was an actress known to all. How should she have felt when Arth was released? Everyone around her would be looking at her with contempt, pity or some emotions she definitely would not appreciate. If Mahesh Bhatt truly loved her, why would he ever make Arth? Why by directing Arth he just gave more cause for her to fear life! Increase her schizophrenia. My hear goes out to the terrified Parveen.

    Mahesh Bhatt did not do anything for her. He has no right to claim hismself a well wisher.

    Parveen was very unlucky. She had no one.

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    from : bijnor (up) civil line 3 lane of dr navneet garg my number 9456460039

  • Typical man who was married, and used her for sex………obviously didn’t love her enuff to leave his wife and marry her!……..@**hole!…….her embarrassed her deeply with Arth, and now does not let her soul in peace after her death!

  • Parveen Babi s life and death has been frozen in time as very accurately mentioned by Mr Mahesh But

  • in my religion if we speak of deceased we speak only good cuz his or her acccount is close so do not speak ill about them its between him or her creator, well one thing i dont understand why mahesh bhatt always potray her as a sucidal at the end of her films, like woh lamhe or phir teri kahani yaad ayi but the reality is she was a strong women with all this she wanted to live and survive , even in this condition she didnt ask their support and though with her illness she prefer to fight her own battles according to her terms ,pls stop making stupid films on her and let her soul rest in peace , if he had truly loved her than would have at least shown some respects for her its lust not love , love is endless despite of any thing u stand by the person not be a spectater from far away , may be inside he always wanted her to attempt sucide and may be her survival without him is really painfull to him , that she didnt cry on his shoulder , a strong women i “ll call her ……..i salute u parveen babi ,

  • Mr mahesh good idea next step write ur daughter stories she also have many controversies come on leave other women alone ,she was not urs and will never be Now stop claiming her and using her even after she died ur not a gentle man but a hypocraite

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  • HI MAHESH SIR I LIKE YOUR HOROR FILMS.WE ARE WRIGHT SPECAIL STORY DEPEND ON 26/11 YOU WANT THIS CRIPT CONTCT ME I IN THE WAY OF FACEBOOK.

  • I dont think mahesh bhatt truely love ms Babi if he did he should have helped her in her difficult time when she needed him. He should not have dumped her. He should tell us why did he make that film Arth about her which she got offended and left the film industry. Why did he had to show every1 she had mental ilness

  • THIS movie WOH LAMHE is the life story of parven ji,this and more movies which mahesh ji has dedicated to parveen ji or in some way are related to the relationship they had r jus fabolous but besides the movies the important thing to see is that mahesh ji was is n will be in love with parveen ji their love is eternal no matter what the people may say its visible for a the words of a great man who has love in his heart for a great woman n actress who left us in very sad situation and no one could do anything to help her or even be by her side her situation was ver ver sad n heart breaking the papers have said a lot of bad things about parveen ji but when we listen to mahesh ji and other freiends of hers we knkow she was a great person some one who would win hearts in just one look,look in her lovely deep eyes one can see the power n divinity she had some thing which her closest friends didnt see,she has had a troubled child hood and still came out on top inspite of being alone she fought n earned the name fame n popularity she had parveen ji was a gr8 person n so is mahesh ji and i wish and know these 2 beautiful people will be united in the hereafter a love like this cant be ignored or wasted,i would say parveen ji left early n suddenly but she is waiting for the love of her life to return to her.MAHESH JI i wud jus say to you ur love is eternal so be happy that u will meet parveen ji and have ur chance to tell the how much u love her i just know it will happen im a gr8 fan of urs and parveen ji my best wishe to u both wish i could meet u thanks

  • IT IS NOT A MOVIE IT’S MAHESH LOVE WITH PARVEEN . ITS SO MEMORABLE AND VALUABLE FOR MAHESH LIFE

  • It amazes me how directors show their personal moments on screen for what MONEY, FAME,

    Some memories are best left alone in the past

    If he claimed to love her then he should have had the dignity to send all proceeds to charity and helping those in need of help, helping those who go through turmoil in life, but it seems he turned a blind eye to illnesses, these type of illnesses are obvious even to a child that there is something wrong

    It seems to me mr bhatt was more worried about getting involved in helping her and slandered in the press
    What’s the point after the damage has been done

    Who has the right to scandalise love or those in need of help

    Respect those that have passed away

    It’s a shame that reality is soo twisted

  • Mahesh bhatt is a liar and big time fraud , he made parveen babi look like a mentally challenged person whereas in reality parveen was very intelligent and smart and sane , parveen wanted love and honesty and trust which mahesh couldnt provide and ug krishnamurthy misled parveen a lot , ug even broke up mahesh and parveens relationship and tried his best to get parveen to stay with him , ug was a womaniser , parveen was constantly threatened by bollywood ever since she left the movie industry in 1979 to be with kabir bedi but when she didnt get love from kabir she was dissapointed and she returned to the movie industry , in her interview with shekhar suman she is perfectly stable and she never had symptoms of a schizopherenic she was only scared of threats , amitabh had an affair with her but he also threatened her when she tried to express their affair in front of the world , after doing extensive research on parveen i believe parveen was used and abused by bollywood and labelled as a mentally challanged person infact she wasnt , hope her soul can get peace cuz even after her death her family has not pursued her will .

  • if Mahesh was so much in love with her, the question is, why he left parveen alone when she needed him the most? he could have accompanied her all the time she remained alive. i think he used parveen for his pleasure and left her when he realized that she was not the one who could pleasure him anymore in any way, and now, the movie “woh lamhe” also smells like a business plan more than memories of a sincere love…….

  • she was the most beautiful female star ever the bollywood have seen but the industry people used her cuz her parents was died and she was after real love

  • mahesh bhatt has profited much from his affair with parvin babi. Shame on him. He deserted her whn she needed help and now telling it to the world shamelessly for the publicity of his films.this is all they care about.

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