Udaya Tara Nayyar: Parveen Babi was liberated to an extent but not cheap or exhibitionist

Indeed I had no reason to suspect that something was not right with her. Sometime in 1983 I spent a week with her and other star delegates to the Tashkent international film festival where her starrer Ashanti was an entry. She was enjoying great popularity then and she was mobbed wherever she went. It amused her no end when some of the media delegates from the Latin American countries referred to her as Zeenat Aman. She often sat with Rekha at the screenings and the Western media went berserk photographing the two beauties--- Rekha, ever so elegant in her Kanjeevaram saris and Parveen ever so chic in her Western outfits. The festival had opened with Umrao Jaan .While conservative Rekha had a tough time finding vegetarian food at the buffets, Parveen joined me in tasting all the meats in the spread, not to mention the wines and vodkas, of course.