According to a Bombay Times report, when asked about the inexhaustible concept of love triangle in his films, Mahesh Bhatt spoke about the love triangles he came across in his life. He said, in an interview with BT, that his mother found herself in a triangular situation of his father and his legitimate wife. Bhatt further said that he experienced the emotional trauma of that triangle in his cradle. He was then hurled into an extra-marital affair with an actress (Parveen Babi) who was fiercely lonely, confessed Bhatt. She somehow reminded him of his mother, she was alone, and he needed to play the prince on the white horse, Bhatt added.

Bollywood has seen many love stories over the years, both on screen and off screen. While few love stories overcame all odds and triumphed, few succumbed to societal norms and differences. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actress Parveen Babi's love story is a tale of heartbreak and grief. In a detailed interview with Filmfare, Mahesh Bhatt untangled all those broken threads of his heart and expressed his love and grief for Parveen Babi.

Parveen was at the peak of her career when she fell in love with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. Their love blossomed in 1977. Though Bhatt was a married man, he decided to live in with Parveen Babi, who was a superstar then. Parveen was shooting forAmar Akbar AnthonyandKala Patharin those days. Theirs was a life filled with love where there was no place for failure or stardom. At home, Parveen was just an ordinary girl who was madly in love with Mahesh Bhatt. But this fairytale had a bitter ending.

Doctors and filmmakers, who sensed their films on the verge of being stalled, wanted Parveen to undergo 'electric shock treatment' which seemed like the only temporary option to calm her down at that time. But Mahesh Bhatt stood rock solid by her and tried his level best to protect her. Kabir Bedi, who was Parveen Babi's ex, suggested a couple of hospitals to Mahesh Bhatt in the US for her treatment. Danny Dengzongpa, who was once Parveen's neighbour and boyfriend, also helped Bhatt during this phase. Parveen's panic attacks refused to cease. A continuous threat of someone trying to kill her hounded her. At times she would feel the AC had a bug, at other times she felt their car had a bomb and she could hear it ticking. She felt that Amitabh Bachchan, with whom she had done a number of films, wanted to kill her. Parveen believed that she had harmed him in some way, and so he wanted to kill her. Her constant attacks made it necessary to hide her from the public.