Kabir Bedi says Mahesh Bhatt, Danny Denzongpa didn’t object to him writing about relationship with Parveen Babi in his book: ‘There’s nothing to hide’

When the couple started dating–after his first marriage to Protima Bedi started breaking down– Parveen was a big star in Bollywood. Kabir found bigger success in Italy and Europe after he featured as the pirate Sandokan (1976) in the popular Italian TV miniseries of the same name.

“When we were in India, there was no problem. I knew she was a bigger star than me, I was coming up. But when we came to Italy and people started sidelining Parveen, I could see the resentment in her. She was not used to playing second fiddle to me.

“Suddenly I was the star and she was not. This also upset her. Add to the fact that her mental health was slowly deteriorating. In the third chapter of the book, I write about my success and her mental breakdown, so you will find a strange ‘juggalbandi’ in the chapter. How at a professional level, I was achieving greater heights but at a personal level, tragedies were happening,” the actor said.

In his autobiography Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor, Kabir revealed that him and Protima had decided to opt for an open marriage when the latter had an affair with a French man outside their wedlock. The arrangement, however, brought him more anxiety than relief. And then he met Parveen Babi.

In the book, Kabir Bedi chronicles not only his relationship with Parveen but also gives an overall view of the late star’s mental health, touching upon her relationships with actor Danny Denzongpa and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

It was when Kabir Bedi was in Italy shooting for Sandokan, that Parveen completely drifted away, he mentions in the book. The couple finally parting ways had such a lasting impact on Parveen, that she went from bad to worse. This was when she met and fell in love with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who helped nurse her breakup wounds with Kabir Bedi.

When asked if Mahesh or Danny ever objected to the book and if he feels he was judged by others, Kabir said, “They didn’t object, because what I wrote in the book is true and they know it. There is nothing to hide here.”

The veteran said it was important for him to write about his life, success and mistakes with honesty so that a reader feels the complete arc of his personality.

“I thought if I talk about my successes then I should also talk about my failures, my mistakes, so that people will believe it. If it a journey of self-praise, who is interested? People ready biography to figure out what they can take away with it. My book has entertainment, drama, adventure. What is it to live a life not just of an actor but an international actor in uncharted territory,” he added.