Parveen Babi was an Indian actress. She was born in Junagadh and did her early schooling in Aurangabad and later attended St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. Her father Vali Mohammed Babi, a Gujarati Muslim, was an administrator with the Nawab of Junagadh. Babi was born fourteen years after the marriage of her parents and was an only child.

She was one of the most successful Bollywood actresses in the 1970s and was known for her portrayal of strong women who did not care about the conventional norms of society. She was the first Indian actress to have featured on TIME magazine's cover, in 1975. In her most successful films, she was paired opposite Amitabh Bachchan, who was one of the biggest stars of the decade, in big hits like Amar Akbar Anthony. She is often compared with her contemporary Zeenat Aman due to their common image of being Westernized beauties. In fact, she acted alongside Aman in Mahaan (1983) and Ashanti (1981) (inspired by the American television show Charlie' Angels, with the third role played by Shabana Azmi). In films like Deewar (1975), Shaan (1980) and Namak Halaal (1982) her screen presence maybe have been minimal (the films largely working around the hero) but Babi brought a certain attractive aloofness to the roles and songs she appeared in. In Manoj Kumar's big hit Kranti (1981), she stole scenes with her supporting role from Hema Malini, the heroine of the film.

Babi also acted in offbeat films like Vinod Pandey's Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982).

Her success did not run into the mid-eighties as she had left the film industry to move to New York in 1983. Here she became associated with the spiritual philosopher U. G. Krishnamurti. She returned to Mumbai in 2002 where she was unrecognizable as her former self after having put on a considerable amount of weight. She accused many foreign dignitaries and her former co-star, Amitabh Bachchan, of conspiring to kill her but her petition in court was dismissed for lack of evidence. She also filed an affidavit in the special court hearing the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, claiming that she had evidence to show, but she did not turn up in court after being summoned saying that she was afraid of being killed.

Parveen Babi may have suffered from schizophrenia and had become a recluse in the last years of her life. She never married but had intimate relationships with married men: director Mahesh Bhatt, actors Kabir Bedi, and Danny Denzongpa. She was also rumoured to have a relationship with her co star Amitabh Bachchan. Mahesh Bhatt made Arth (1982), a semi-autobiographical film about his extra-marital relationship with Babi, and Woh Lamhe (2006) based on actual facts about his relationship with her. These experiences triggered of schizophrenia which was not completely treated or supported and ultimately resulted in her final loneliness without any support system.