Looking remarkably similar, American actress Shikha Puri is expected to play the part of Parveen Babi in a film currently called The Three Kings and based on the tragic life of the Bollywood actress. The film is likely to be shot in a mixture of Hindi and English and is intended primarily for the international audience.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Parveen Babi played alongside the greats of Bollywood in movie such as Deewar, Shaan and Amar Akbar Anthony. She was linked to amorous relationships to Mahesh Bhatt and Kabir Bedi, amongst others, and it is likely that the movie will explore this aspect. Mahesh Bhatt has earlier touched upon his relationship with her in the movie Woh Lamhe. Not your typical Bollywood heroine, it is rumoured that Parveen had experimented earlier in life with drugs and was once diagnosed as schizophrenic. It’s possible that she felt abused by the men in her life and she once accused Amitabh Bachchan of plotting to kill her. She was found dead of natural causes in her apartment in 2005.
Shikha has no qualms about playing some of the racier scenes that may be required in any movie about Parveen’s life. She recently shot a scene topless for the independent movie Dog. “The shoot went off well and I had no qualms taking my top off,” she says, “I am an actress and I come from the United States where one sees such scenes in films regularly. It is not considered taboo to take of your top as long as the presentation is aesthetic enough.”
Top model Dhwani Mittal is also rumoured to have been signed up for The Three Kings.
