'Parveen Babi started crawling in hotel corridor', scribe reveals why she was replaced with Rekha in Silsila

Parveen Babi, one of the timeless icons of Indian film industry had a short but scintillating career in the industry. She was initially short-listed for Yash Chopra’s Silsila but the filmmaker had to take a decision to replace her with Rekha. Former film journalist Hanif Zaveri has spoken in detail to a podcast on Meri Saheli channel and described how Yash Chopra found out about her deteriorating mental health. He said Parveen Babi had carried all costumes chosen for Silsila to Kashmir when she was filming Kaalia. He said she had become that possessive of them. This was even before she began to film the project.

It seems she was good friends with cinematographer Pravin Bhatt. He was the son of producer Vijay Bhatt and father of Vikram Bhatt. It seems she showed him her huge wardrobe for Silsila. He was shocked and asked her why did she get them to Kashmir. She told him that they get stolen in Bombay. That statement made Pravin Bhatt realise that she was mentally unwell.

There was one more incident that reconfirmed the worst fears of Pravin Bhatt. Both of them were staying in the same hotel in the same floor. At night, he saw her crawling towards his room.

"During the shoot of Kaalia, Parvin Bhatt and Parveen Babi had their rooms on the same floor with some distance when he found her crawling towards his room. She thought she would fall if she walked. This time, Bhatt confirmed that she was sick."

- Hanif Zaveri told Meri Saheli

It seems Amitabh Bachchan too noticed the psychological changes in Parveen Babi's demeanour that were becoming more and more obvious. He told Yash Chopra to come to Kashmir and see the changes for himself. He saw that Parveen had swollen cheeks maybe due to excessive consumption of alcohol. Then, he told her that the script of Silsila had undergone some changes and he would opt for a different actress. This ruined her relationship with Yash Chopra and Amitabh Bachchan who only thought for the betterment of the movie.