Parveen Babi. Illustration: Nuwan Chamika / Himal Southasian
Parveen Babi. Illustration: Nuwan Chamika / Himal Southasian

There is something about Parveen

The cultures of fame, shame, and fear in Bollywood’s tryst with mental health.

Writer, editor, and TED speaker, Pooja Pande’s books include 'Red Lipstick' (Penguin Randomhouse, 2016), a literary-styled memoir of celebrity transgender rights activist Laxmi, and 'Momspeak' (Penguin Randomhouse, 2020), a first-of-its-kind feminist exploration of the institution and experience of motherhood in India. Pooja’s day job is in media as Head of Strategy at Chambal Media, which houses Khabar Lahariya, India’s award-winning grassroots news network run by Dalit/marginalized women. 

Published on

What feels like a chunk of my childhood was spent in complete awe of her. Parveen Babi.

Growing up in West Asia of the 1980s, renting Hindi film VCRs at the corner store was a hugely desi predilection: nostalgia and heartache and the stuff of phone calls/dinner party chatter for my parents, and a vision of an India for me, a country that I knew was home, real home, even though I had no real memories of it since I'd left at the age of two. Plonked in the middle of a desert, in an air-conditioned room, in front of a TV that played her movies as if on loop, I was enthralled.

Loading content, please wait...
Himal Southasian
www.himalmag.com