As far as the film industry was concerned Parveen Babi died a very long time ago after she was reportedly diagnosed as schizophrenic.

In recent years one seldom heard or saw anything of her except for an appearance on Shekhar Suman's talk show a year ago where she appeared as normal as could be.

Distinctly overweight, it was difficult to recognize Parveen Babi in the last few years of her life. Her neglect by the film industry epitomised the most callous aspect of stardom. Ostracized and banished into oblivion, Parveen Babi, still in her 40s, died a lonely isolated death.

And to think that in the 1970s she embodied the new-age heroine!

Introduced by B.R. Ishaara along with cricketer Salim Durrani in "Charitra", Parveen shot to fame in the films that she did with Amitabh Bachchan, like "Amar Akbar Anthony", "Do Aur Do Paanch" and "Namak Halaal", "Shaan" and "Khuddar".

In Yash Chopra's "Deewaar" she was cast as a liberated working girl, smoking drinking and sleeping with her lover, defying every rule of being a Hindi film heroine. At the same time she could carry off the sari-clad look opposite Jeetendra in J. Om Prakash's "Arpan".

Parveen Babi's biggest moment of glory came when she was featured on the cover of Time magazine to represent the new face of Hindi cinema. Then...everything began to go wrong for this defiant and reluctant actress.

According to her close friends Parveen Babi began to lose her mind.

Recalls media baron Pritish Nandy, "Yes, she did begin to crack up. She couldn't take the pressures of being naked before the camera. I think Parveen was very uncomfortable with the idea of exposing her feelings. The exhibitionism required to perform in front of a camera tormented her. She quietly and quickly withdrew from the rat race to the extent that no one could keep track of her."

But why did the industry isolate this incredibly beautiful actress so completely?

"She chose to be that way. Her final affair with a particular actor finished off her self-confidence. She cracked up after that."

In the 1970s, Parveen Babi had a tumultuous widely-publicised affair with Mahesh Bhatt. Later she was closely involved with his religious guru.

When in the mid-1970s Bhatt made a sensational film "Arth" based on his affair with Parveen, with Smita Patil playing her role, Parveen's psyche was deeply affected.

Recalls Nandy, "Yes I suppose the film affected her, as did the men in her life. She was a wonderful company, very articulate, terrific conversationalist, extremely well-read. In fact she had begun to write her memoirs, which she never completed. I had published portions of her intended memoirs in the Illustrated Weekly Of India when I edited it. Now of course we'll never know her full story."

Parveen Babi was a major star in the 1980s. Running neck-and-neck with Zeenat Aman as the sexy westernised oomph girl Parveen could never drop her inhibitions to live up to her image. She instead withdrew from the limelight and then from life.