At The Edge

Today noticed that the famous 'lost' image of Parveen Babi has finally made its ways from this blog to Indian television. Newx channel used it in a run-of-the-mill 'nostalgic' piece on 'Glamour Girl's of Bollywood'. In logo ka meray bina kya hota . I posted the image around two years ago: Parveen Babi on Time Magazine Cover . You can calculated  calculate the pace of information around here. Also, earlier this year I actually found that the image wasn't actually that lost. India Today had last published in 1990. -0- 

All sort of books on Indian Cinema, news pieces about Parveen Babi sad death, glossy film magazines, blog posts about her, all are replete with references to Parveen Babi making it to the cover of Time Magazine, a first for any Indian actress. Few were sure about the date of the issue, fewer could claim to have actually seem the cover. Many were on the trail of the elusive cover. I first tried to find it around two years ago, since then I would look for it whenever I was reminded of that 'will someone find it' cover. Last night, while watching her in Kala Sona (1975) I decided to give the old quest one more try. And today when I finally found it, I was ecstatically delighted. Actually bouncing on my chair. Matter of date. The year was 1976, it was an almost established fact even though a lot of folks even got the year wrong. But the Time magazine archive available at their site, the easiest and the first logical place to look, offered no such cover. She must have b...

"Pure, mild LUX- beauty soap of the film stars"

Oh woman, you are half woman and half dream. ~Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener -8- I was surprised. The most beautiful and seductive actress of Bombay film world! She lived alone in her bachelor apartment and has had a series of sensational love affairs. She had never learned to act but was sought after by producers for her glamour. At the peak of her career she had suddenly disappeared leaving behind many films unfinished, ruining the producers. Later, people learnt that she was washing dishes in a New York restaurant. After two years, healed of her wild and crazy actions, she retured to Bombay. The film industry embraced her and she became a star once again. I first met her in 1981 at a party at Sanjay Khan’s ― the flamboyant film producer-actor-director. As she walked in, a warm wave ran through the party. She smiled and shook hands with everyone. She told me that she had read my novel and invited me over for a cup of coffee to her apartment. When I went to see her, she w...