Kabir Bedi says his open marriage with Odissi exponent Protima Bedi was an “experimental unconventional arrangement”. But he left all of it for a relationship with yesteryear diva Parveen Babi.
“Protima thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life: the bloody fool. ‘He had it so good with me. I gave him everything, plus his freedom. He could have had his affairs, he could have done anything. I wouldn’t have objected’,” Bedi quoteshis ex-wife in his autobiography titled ‘Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor’.
“Even so, I had chosen intimacy, love and fidelity. At the time, it was what I needed the most. Parveen symbolised it,” Bedi added in his tell-all memoir.
Kabir Bedi, born to well-known mother and father bore the combined genes and ideologies of each – a Punjabi father and a British mom. He had a number of relationships, whereas marrying 4 instances. In truth, his ‘playboy image’ made a variety of noise within the 1970-1980.
Model-turned-Odissi exponent Protima Bedi established dance college Nrityagram close to Bengaluru in 1990. (Photo: Express Archives)
Kabir first tied the knot with mannequin Protima Bedi, who later grew to become a classical dancer. In her personal autobiography ‘Timepass: The Memoirs of Protima Bedi’, she wrote, “It was clear I couldn’t stop affairs happening, so I took the attitude of ‘I don’t care because I understand’… When the starlets asked me how come I don’t mind my husband flirting and having affairs, I would laugh and say, ‘Well, he’d be stupid to refuse something that came so easily and cheaply,’ hoping that would put the women off.”
Kabir brazenly went about stating that what he shared with Protima was “love and not possessiveness” as in keeping with him, possession is a detrimental feeling, however love is constructive. “Most of the misery people go through is because they mix up these two emotions,” he stated.
Kabir revealed in his e-book that the couple determined to go for an open marriage when Protima had an affair with a French man outdoors their wedlock. But the association ultimately introduced him extra anxiousness slightly than aid. And at one such time, when his spouse was away studying Odissi that he met then Bollywood’s sultry siren Parveen Babi. The two took no time to get right into a romantic relationship. Soon sufficient, the Kabir Bedi-Protima Bedi marriage collapsed, leaving the latter devastated.
Kabir Bedi with Parveen Babi. (Photo: Express Archives)
Kabir Bedi and Parveen Babi had a whirlwind romance that was open, daring and bohemian in public eye. But her psychological well being difficulty quickly created a crack. According to Kabir, he wished to assist Parveen, simply that she gained’t let him in. It was when Kabir Bedi was in Italy taking pictures for Sandokan (1976) that Parveen fully drifted away. Infact, them transferring aside had an enduring influence on Parveen Babi who went from unhealthy to worse, and this was when she met and fell in love with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt who helped nurse her breakup wounds with Kabir Bedi.
“The love that I felt for her was extraordinary and intense,” he advised Bollywood Hungama, including that seeing her endure, “because of her mental problems” was “emotionally exhausting.”
Kabir Bedi with present spouse Parveen Dusanj. (Photo: Express Archives)
An besides from his autobiography learn, “I felt for her suffering mind. But my long-suppressed resentments flared as well. I rued the shadows Parveen had cast on my most joyful years. I reminded myself it wasn’t her fault. Perhaps I was equally to blame. Maybe I should have walked away earlier. Yet I couldn’t; she’d needed me desperately. I’d seen myself as her protector. By then, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. I’d gone from one emotionally draining woman to another, without a pause in between, leaving me no time for myself.”
Kabir Bedi married Susan Humphries in 1980 and Nikki Bedi in 1992, all of which resulted in divorce. In early 2000s he met British-born Parveen Dusanj, who had come to observe him carry out a play, The Far Pavilions in London. The two quickly began courting and moved-in collectively in Mumbai. After being companions for over a decade, they tied the knot in 2016, a day earlier than Kabir turned 70. Today, he calls Parveen, who’s 30-years youthful, “a beautiful, fitting climax” to his life.
But there was an occasion when Kabir requested Parveen Dusanj to vary her identify so that folks don’t confuse her with Parveen Babi. “She had this very British (response), ‘How dare you ask me to change my name?’” He eventually started calling her ‘V’.
Kabir Bedi along with his daughter Pooja Bedi and son Adam Bedi. (Photo: Express Archives)
Kabir Bedi has two youngsters with Protima Bedi – actor Pooja Bedi, and son Siddharth who suffered from schizophrenia and died by suicide on the age of 26. His son Adam Bedi with British-born dressmaker spouse Susan Humphreys, is a global mannequin.
“People may think ‘what a lucky guy’ for having one beautiful woman after another. Only I know the price I paid for being an impulsively emotional man,” he wrote in his memoir.
In an interview with GQ India, he added, “There are a lot of things that you want to leave behind but they’re all part of my life so it makes sense to share it with everyone. It wasn’t easy, but at the end of the day, I had to do it, and it was almost cathartic.”
Happy birthday, Kabir Bedi!
