Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s turbulent personal life made headlines in the 1970s and ’80s, including his extramarital affair with late actor Parveen Babi and later, his second marriage to actor Soni Razdan. Now, his eldest daughter from his first marriage to Kiran Bhatt, actor-producer Pooja Bhatt, has opened up on how Soni felt guilty about her relationship with Mahesh.

Recalling an old conversation with Soni in Coonoor, Pooja said on Vickey Lalwani’s podcast, “Soni had a heart-to-heart conversation with me… She said, ‘Pooja, I too feel so guilty, felt very guilty’. I told her with all of my heart, ‘Soni, you could not have broken up a relationship that was together. There is no space for anybody in a relationship that is solid unless there are crevices there or something was lacking, so somebody else could come and find that space’.”

Pooja revealed that she knew about Mahesh and Soni before her mother did. “He woke me up and said, ‘I have to let you know that I have met this lady and I am going to be moving out. It doesn’t mean that I love you any less, and I will always be there.’ I said agar woh mujhe nahin kahega to kisko kahega?” she said.

While Pooja said she did see her mother’s pain, she added that her parents “always maintained decorum and grace with each other”.

Mahesh and Kiran are parents to two children, Pooja and fitness trainer-actor Rahul Bhatt. Mahesh met Soni during the making of Saaransh (1984). They got married on April 20, 1986, and have two daughters, actor Alia Bhatt and author Shaheen Bhatt.

Actor Shehzad, popularly known by his surname Shaikh, is in fact a Babi by lineage. Yesteryears’ star Parveen Babi is his step-grandmother—a detail he calls “incidental” rather than defining, insisting his journey is shaped by persistence, not privilege. “I am a nepo kid, but that’s not how I wanted to be known,” says the actor, currently shooting for Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan in Chandigarh, in a conversation with us. Excerpts:

I grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to India for higher studies, graduating in hospitality with a top-paying job. Though I always wanted to act, coming from a family of lawyers, I never expressed it openly. After a stint at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, I moved to Gujarat to start an energy-saving business, but it shut down. I then worked as a stockbroker until the market crash, followed by a brief stint as cabin crew when the airline also shut down—forcing me to rethink my path.

My neighbour, actor Nawab Shah, once challenged me to prove my interest in acting by giving me a contact number. I took it seriously, dressed in a suit, introduced myself as offering “acting services,” and began auditioning. Eventually, I got a call from a casting director to play lead in an episodic in Savdhaan India. I started from the bottom — no contacts, no connections and did episodic like Savdhaan India, Adaalat, Gumrah, and similar formats.

I got my first big break with the Qubool Hai. After that, I did a film which was a great learning experience, but I ended up spending two years on that project, which slowed my career. That’s when I realized that films and web series weren’t always viable from a business perspective for me at that stage. So, I decided to return to TV and came back with Bepannaah, followed by Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.

Around the same time, Vikram Bhatt cast me in a web series Anamika, with Sunny Leone. He offered me another film, 1920: Horrors Of The Heart, but my first producer, Gul Khan felt I was ready for a full-fledged lead role on TV. I respected that, apologized to Vikram sir, and quit the film shoot to do Sindoor Ki Keemat as lead.

After that, I did Mehndi Hai Rachne Waali, which also performed very well, especially in North India. Then last year, I experimented with a limited-series format—Zyada Mat Udd.

See, I realized early that television is my bread and butter. It gives you daily visibility, you enter people’s homes every night, which no other medium offers at this scale. By doing films, my visibility is once or twice a year. But through TV, I am in your homes every day, you can’t ignore me (laughs).

Mumbai: Producers are turning to biopics on celebrated film personalities, drawn by their emotional depth, lower marketing costs, safer returns and audiences' growing fondness for real, inspiring stories from the world of cinema, writers and trade insiders told ET.

Over the next two years, Bollywood producers are set to release a wave of biopics on film legends such as Dadasaheb Phalke, Meena Kumari, Kishore Kumar, Parveen Babi, Madhubala and Ilaiyaraaja, as the industry increasingly turns the camera inward amid a broader boom in biographical films across politics, history, science, sports and mythology.

"These biopics have an advantage. Largely, audiences are inquisitive about the personal lives of their favourite film artists," said Girish Johar, producer and film business expert. "But for those who are not admirers or fans of these artists, the merit of these biopics will be tested only on how their stories are told," he added.

A key concern among directors and writers about biopics on film artists is the authenticity of their portrayal, a nuance that many past films failed to capture.

"I am keen on watching a biopic about the actress Meena Kumari given her body of work, personality and the enigma around her. But a key question remains: Will the film on Meena Kumari deal with the critical aspects of her life or just one prominent aspect of her life?," said veteran writer-director Nilaskhi Sengupta. "Ultimately, it is the authentic portrayal of such artists which will decide how well they will be received," she added.

In recent years, creative works based on the film industry and artists have received high critical acclaim. In India, the web series Jubilee, which showed the 1940s era of the Hindi film industry received favourable response from the audience.

Lastly, costs also play a role in this trend. "Indian audiences have an immediate connection with biopics on film artists. For producers, who are under-confident in backing original stories due to polarized responses to films, a biopic on a film artist reduces at least the marketing and promotion costs," said Ameya Naik, founder of Fantasy Films, an event management company.

Monica O My Darling, Maharani, Double XL and Tarla – Huma Qureshi’s film choices are anything but predictable. The actress tells us that she is unafraid of experimenting and out of the box is what she wants to be with every role that she plays. In a conversation with us, she talks about this and much more. Excerpts…

I am enjoying the work I am doing and taking each day as it comes. The film industry has opened up because of OTT platforms. People are consuming more content and are open to newer ideas. Female-centric stories are doing well. The notion of what works and what doesn’t has changed.

People asked me why would you do a Tarla after doing a role like Monica? The truth is, I want to challenge myself as an artiste. My biggest high is that no one can say that I can do only a certain kind of role. I have a skill set as an actor that I want to explore to the fullest. I want to experiment with different genres. I loved recreating what Helen ma’am or Parveen Babi did back in the day in Monica O My Darling. I loved watching Tarla Dalal’s old videos and observing her mannerisms, style of talking, and cooking. Playing myself in movies would be boring. I live with myself all the time anyway.

When the trailer of Double XL came out, people asked me if that was my real arm (in the scene where I am seen with cricketer Shikhar Dhawan). I was told by people, ‘Yeh kya pagalpan hai? What have you done to yourself and how much weight have you put on!’ I told them this was a story where if I didn’t put on 20 kilos, it wouldn’t look real. Just wearing a fat suit or padded clothes wouldn’t be honest. I didn’t want girls to look at me and say, ‘They are actresses, what do they know about being fat-shamed or feeling insecure about their looks? What do they know about being overweight?’ I decided to go the whole hog. That’s the only way the film could have touched people. Mazaa useeka hai. I get inspired when I see actors who transform themselves for roles. After working for 10 years, I don’t want my audience to feel fatigued when they look at my face. It’s good when people don’t know what to expect from you.

I am a non-controversial person, who loves to focus on her work. I just speak my truth as any person should. If that makes a statement, so be it. I am not trying to be sensational. I remember being asked, ‘Why would you do a Tarla at this point in your career when you are at your prime?’ That’s when I said, why is there pressure on women to always look 19! I am at a stage in my life where I can play someone in her 20s, 30s, 40s and even 50s if need be. I want filmmakers to look at me and feel that ‘Let me write something for her’… crazy or out of the box.

I don’t want to be remembered as just a pretty face. I want to be known for my body of work. I feel happy when someone says, ‘Look at the wide range of characters she has played.’ That’s all I have got. My next films are completely different and clutter-breaking. If I am afraid of experimenting and I stick to playing safe parts, then I am not doing justice to my own dream. As a little girl, I loved dressing up and playing different roles. This is to honour that little girl.

Besides her wacky sartorial choices at Cannes, actor Urvashi Rautela’s unfounded claim of having attended the film festival for a photocall launch of her upcoming film, purportedly a biopic on yesteryear actor and pop culture icon Parveen Babi, has shocked many.

However, the absence of the makers of the said project from the photocall raised suspicion, as did the fact that many actors go to Cannes and just get clicked at the red carpet, even when their films aren’t being premiered. Now, we’ve learned from several industry insiders that there is no buzz yet about a biopic on the life of the late star.

“It’s very clear that she is lying, and it is bogus news. There are no conversations around any such project in the circuit,” says a source.

When we reached out to Rautela for clarity on the makers of the film, she didn’t give any names and insisted that the project is at a very nascent stage.

Only one project on the subject has been officially announced — a mini-series based on the book Parveen Babi: A Life by Karishma Upadhyay. Producer Sneha Rajani, who also backed Piku (2015), confirmed that she has acquired the rights for the project.

“The series is being made with an A-list director on board, and Urvashi is not being considered for the lead,” says a source attached to project.

“Urvashi was there all by herself, without the producer, writer or director. What is this photocall launch? She could’ve said that she wants to or is thinking of doing the project, but alleging that it is being made without the name of the team is definitely not credible,” the insider asserts.

The haveli is one among the seven grand buildings that once housed Junagadh’s Babi royalty

Junagadh’s Diwan Square takes you to a narrow lane behind a swanky building complex. A dilapidated arch welcomes you with its vanishing grandeur that is marred by a couple of overflowing garbage bins. Puppies play around joyfully.

Behind the bins is a corrugated locked gate that leads to a haveli which is one among the seven grand buildings that once housed Junagadh’s Babi royalty. The blue-blooded family is long gone. Some say they escaped to Pakistan during Partition. However, the locals here remember one name from the families that stayed here for long and a female lead that once mesmerised film buffs. The late Parveen Babi grew up in this locality and got her education in the city before moving out to the then Bombay for modelling, which was followed by her debut in Bollywood.

Tourists who gather some knowledge about Babi beforehand are directed to this Muslim dominated area, to see for themselves the haveli—locked and without a caretaker. A row of shops run in the front of the haveli. Some government offices are also operational. The employees there welcome us on a condition that they will not be photographed. However, they allow us to peep out of a broken wall to take a long shot of Parveen Babi’s haveli which stands opposite.

One of the shopkeepers, Pankajbhai Vediya, has a workshop that moulds silver into small temples and decorative pieces that adorn the religious places. He claims his is the only shop in Junagadh that has expertise in this type work.

When we ask him about the late actor, he says, “Yes, she is our city’s daughter and we are proud of her. I have seen her when I was a child... I think I was 15 then. My father had seen her playing here. I remember her attending a marriage in the family. The haveli has been locked for the past 20-22 years,” Pankajbhai says. He remembers Babi’s cousin and aunt staying in the haveli. “The cousin went away after his mother died. Parveen had kept her a car here for the local commute. Nobody knows where that vehicle is now,” he adds.

Some people tell us that Babi had willed to donate her property in Mumbai and Junagadh and her savings for the welfare of the underprivileged women and children from the Babi community in Jamnagar. A share of that went to her paternal uncle through a court decision, we’re told. Babi had died alone in her Juhu flat on January 22, 2005.

Some said there are reports of a trust being formed to execute her will, but mid-day could not verify it independently. Some savings were to be donated to a college in Ahmedabad where the actor had done her post graduation.

Vaani Kapoor started shooting for BellBottom after the lockdown was lifted in 2020. The film, which released yesterday, is the first big movie to hit the theatres post the second Coronavirus wave. Though she has a small part to essay in the thriller, Vaani is content as she gets to team up with Akshay Kumar in a film set in the 70s and 80s and is based on a true incident. In a conversation with Bombay Times, the actress talks about the kind of work she wants to do, the importance of being a part of commercial films by big banners and her film’s release amid the pandemic. Excerpts

My character was pretty much clear on paper. I play the wife of a spy (played by Akshay Kumar). Yes, the film is very interesting and intriguing as it is set in a certain time and derives from real-life events. To prep for my role, I went through some movies and looks as references from that time. I saw films starring Parveen Babi and Rekha. The director (Ranjit M Tewari) and I drew certain references that I could incorporate in my looks. What I like about this character is that irrespective of being from that time period, she is a working woman, a level-headed and centered individual.

We began shooting right after the first lockdown was lifted. So, there was that paranoia as you were stepping out after being locked up at home for months. I was living all by myself in Mumbai and taking all the precautions necessary. Cut to, I fly to Glasgow with the team for the shoot where I am suddenly in the company of so many people, with no masks on in front of the camera — romancing and dancing. I think we just bounced back to normalcy as it felt safe in the bio-bubble that the team set up there.

I feel that sometimes it’s okay to be a part of a big, good film, even if you are only a small part of it. A movie like this brings credibility and visibility. At times what happens is that you could be a good actor, but you are a part of a project that doesn’t somehow reach the maximum audience, but it doesn’t usually happen with commercial movies like these. I think to be cast opposite Akshay Kumar in BellBottom is a big deal. Every actor wants to do a great part in a great film. That’s the ultimate goal. Whether it is a two-hour or a 10-minute role, I am happy to do it as long as I make an impact or a difference by being a part of the film. And honestly, an actor can only choose from whatever they get. There are times when I say, ‘I wish this film came to me or that director had thought of me for this project.’ But these are only desires, and ultimately, you pick the best from what comes to you.

As an audience member, I was stunned watching films like NH10, Thappad, Piku and Badla. Today, there are such incredible films being made, but then you also have those many actors who have proved themselves. I hope that my upcoming movies, like Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui and Shamshera, do that for me. After all, every actor needs to chart a different course in this industry. I am choosing parts that I feel will add more value to my work. I can’t compare myself to anybody. I am happy that I got to work with actors like Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor in such a short period. I get to learn so much on a set while working with them.

I follow my gut instinct, stick to it and never regret my decisions. During a lull phase between Befikre and War, it wasn’t like I wasn’t offered projects. It was just that I wasn’t content with those and so I chose not to do them. I would rather sit at home than do something that takes me five steps back in my career. I would prefer to wait it out and pick up a project that satisfies me as an actor.

That is a huge risk I am taking. It is not easy because that way you make less money. Plus, I am not privileged. I am an outsider and I have to provide for myself. My team members, folks from the industry, or friends often make me aware of the out-of-sight-out-of-mind situation. They ask me to do movies in bulk for survival, but that is not what I am looking for. In terms of my personal life, you don’t hear much about it is, because I am a very private person and an introvert. I like my space. Even at work, I barely talk to anybody. I am such a quiet person that either I come across as arrogant or a snob.

In his growing-up years, Abir Sengupta remembers spending many an afternoon in front of the television, awed by the songs and visuals of Hindi films. It was only natural then that he wanted to pay tribute to Bollywood with his Hindi directorial debut, Indoo Ki Jawani. Describing how the song, Dil tera, was conceptualised, the director says, "As a filmmaker, I am [emotionally attached] to the many classics that have shaped the Hindi film industry. While writing the song sequence, I wanted to pay homage to the iconic looks and sequences from the '60s to the '90s."

The track, also featuring Aditya Seal, sees Kiara Advani recreating the looks of Sharmila Tagore from Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), Parveen Babi from Namak Halal (1982) and Urmila Matondkar in Rangeela (1995) as the couple move from one decade to the next. Sengupta collaborated with the film's stylist Sheetal Sharma to remain faithful to the eras.

Sharma says, "It is a situational song that imaginatively spans the glorious eras of Hindi cinema. References were drawn from the most iconic look of every decade. We also added a bit of quirk to each theme."

Mahesh Bhatt on how he got drawn into an affair with Parveen Babi after she left Kabir Bedi and returned from Italy and then, finding her with a knife, cowering in terror
MUMBAI MIRROR (August 21, 2020)

On the night the couple (Kabir Bedi and Parveen Babi) finally flew out to Europe, Kabir’s friend Mahesh Bhatt was at Bombay airport to see them off. ‘I remember they were moving away, lock, stock and barrel,’ he says. ‘It was a late night flight and she was there. They were both already dressed for Europe. There was a kind of sadness about her, plucking herself from here and going away. But she was Kabir’s girlfriend and they were in love. He was a star in Italy and there was a glorious future; so she went…’ As luck would have it, a manager from Air India, who knew Parveen and Kabir, organized a dinner for them with La Lollo (Gina Lollobrigida). It was going to be a private affair—just the four of them at a swanky Roman restaurant. It promised to be a memorable night. And it was, but for the wrong reasons.

At the dinner, a newly single (Gina) Lollobrigida had eyes only for Kabir. All evening, she showered her attention on him, completely ignoring Parveen… ‘It was almost the end of dinner when Gina turned to Parveen and said, “And you, my dear? What are you doing? Following the star?”,’ Kabir says, recalling the details of that evening. ‘Parveen was no pushover. She was very bright and quick-witted. So she replied, “No, my dear. I am with my man, because I have a man.”’ Before Lollobrigida could retort, Parveen turned to Kabir and suggested, ‘Let’s dance.’ On the dance floor, she told him quite clearly that she didn’t want to spend another moment watching the Italian star fawn all over him. ‘I didn’t know what to do,’ says Kabir. ‘Gina was one of the biggest names in international cinema, but Parveen wanted to leave. She said to me, “I’m leaving. The rest is up to you, whether you want to stay or you want to leave.” I told her that she was putting me in a very difficult situation, but she said, “That’s your problem. I’m leaving. I don’t like this woman.” Parveen wasn’t wrong; Gina had snubbed and disparaged her.’ When they returned to their table at the end of the song, Kabir told Lollobrigida, ‘I’m terribly sorry. We’ve got to leave.’

When Parveen began rebuilding her career after her return from London, she had started reaching out to old friends and acquaintances. Mahesh Bhatt was one of them. She invited him over to her Kalumal Estate home to ‘catch up with life’, as she put it.

‘I was a married man in my twenties,’ Mahesh recalls. ‘I was struggling and my movies weren’t doing well; travelling from Mahim to Juhu was an expensive affair.’ Yet, there was something that compelled him to visit Parveen. That evening, Mahesh began seeing her in a new light. ‘There was this gloom around her,’ he recalls. ‘This was a woman that truly belonged to the space where she lived; that space where she was solitary. She was beautiful and she was desolate.’ The last time he had met her, Parveen was living with Kabir. They were a couple and she was following him to greener pastures. Like everyone else who had known them as a couple, Mahesh was curious about what had gone wrong with their relationship, but he refrained from probing… Mahesh’s visit to Parveen’s home was meant to be a casual one. They were just two acquaintances spending time with each other for the first time without distractions coming in the way. With every turn of the conversation, they got to know each other better. They discovered commonalities, exchanged stories and shared secrets. Sunset was followed by the glow of twilight… At some point during the evening, Parveen placed a vinyl of Farida Khanum’s ‘Aaj jaane ki zid na karo’ on the turntable. As the ghazal played on a loop in the background, Mahesh felt the shift in mood.

‘That evening started off [with] two friends catching up,’ he acknowledges, ‘but the conversation kept getting deeper and the silences got comfortable. The attraction between us was palpable.’ At the back of his mind, Mahesh kept reminding himself that he had a wife and a daughter waiting for him at home. He might well have been a follower of the free-thinking spiritual guru Rajneesh for some time and influenced by his unconventional views, but he realized that releasing himself from the stranglehold of the value system he had grown up with was not easy.

‘I might have parroted the whole narrative of free love, but I was held back by morality,’ he confesses.

Reluctant to test his resolve further, Mahesh got up to leave. Parveen stood up as well. But she didn’t follow him to the door. ‘It was a long corridor from the living room to the main door,’ he remembers. ‘I was almost at the door when I realized that Parveen hadn’t come to see me off. Just as I opened the main door, I heard her call my name.’

He turned around and walked down the corridor for the last time that night. The door to Parveen’s bedroom was open. ‘She was lying there on the bed, waiting for me. There was complete silence, because there was no need for words anymore.’

One overcast July morning in 1979, Parveen woke up as usual and stepped out to get ready for a day of shooting for director Prakash Mehra’s Jwalamukhi, in which she had been cast opposite Shatrughan Sinha. Mahesh (Bhatt) was still in bed, drifting in and out of sleep. When Parveen tiptoed back into their bedroom, he was expecting his daily peck. Instead, she whispered that they should not have any conversation outside their room. Before he could react to her words, she had left...

When he came home that evening, Parveen’s mother, who was visiting, answered the door with an anxious looking Ved Sharma (her secretary) standing in the background...

He walked into the house and headed straight for their bedroom. ‘Here she was, curled up on the floor like a beast in one corner of the room,’ he says. ‘She was still in her film costume. She was holding a knife; it was the knife she used at the breakfast table.’ Mahesh slowly walked towards her. Before he could sit down next to her, Parveen whispered to him, ‘Shut the door.’ When he sat down close to her on the floor, her delusions came tumbling out and the source of her fear was revealed.

‘They tried to kill me,’ she told him. He asked who was trying to kill her. ‘Amitabh Bachchan,’ she replied, urging him to lower his voice, lest he be overheard. ‘The room is bugged,’ she went on.

‘You don’t know; you are an innocent man. They are going to drop a chandelier on me.’ Though he had had no past experience of dealing with someone in the middle of a psychotic episode, Mahesh was the only one in Parveen’s life who recognized that evening that there was something seriously wrong with her.

‘As a child, I had seen a south Indian actor named Ranjan in our neighbourhood,’ he recalls. ‘He was said to be a victim of schizophrenia and that was my only reference.’

Excerpted from a forthcoming biography on Parveen Babi by Karishma Upadhyay