Somy Ali: Physical Beauty Fades With Age. What Stays Is How We Treat The Mind Behind The Face

Somy Ali, a former Bollywood actress who is currently running her NGO No More Tears in Florida, fondly remembers the late Indian actress Parveen Babi. She calls her timeless beauty but highlights the emotional and mental turbulence behind that glamorous face.

Somy said, "I am not here to talk about lipstick shades or red-carpet gowns. I want to talk about something far more enduring.

Physical beauty fades with age. What stays is how we treat the mind behind the face. I am speaking of Parveen Babi, the first Indian celebrity to grace the cover of TIME Magazine in 1976, the woman whose sharp cheekbones, piercing gaze, and effortless glamour once defined Bollywood's golden era."

"Parveen wasn't just beautiful; she was revolutionary. Bold, outspoken, unapologetically modern. She dated rock stars, challenged norms, and became a symbol of a new, liberated Indian woman on the world stage," she added.

Talking about Parveen's education, Somy mentioned that she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, and reportedly earned a Master of Arts in English, adding, "Contrast that with the highly uneducated college dropouts we have in Bollywood now."

But Somy wants to highlight an unseen truth that not many could see. She said, "Behind the TIME cover and the flashing cameras was a different story-one of profound psychological fragility. Parveen Babi was battling paranoid schizophrenia at a time when mental health was whispered about, never spoken aloud. The industry that worshipped her slowly abandoned her when her illness became visible."

Somy remembers how Parveen was labeled 'difficult,' 'unstable,' and 'crazy.' She wrote, "The same people who once celebrated her beauty turned away when her mind needed care. I met her once as a teenager. I was in a salon in Mumbai. The salon owner told me to stop talking to her. 'She's not well,' she whispered. I didn't understand what that meant then. I do now."

"My eyes glisten as I recall that moment. I wish I had known then what I know now as a trained psychotherapist and founder of No More Tears. I wish I could have offered Parveen real help. That single encounter stays with me even today as clear as day," she added.

Somy further revealed that many leading studio executives and fashion photographers who worked with her in the 1990's often told her that she looked strikingly like Parveen Babi. She added, "The same sharp features, the same intense eyes, and the same effortless screen presence. Some even joked that she was 'the next Parveen.' For a young actress, those comparisons felt like the highest compliment."

She continued, "Yet, years later, I realized how heavy that resemblance truly was. It wasn't just about looks. It was about carrying the echo of a woman whose beauty the world celebrated while quietly letting her suffer alone.

I then turned to the power of art to reflect truth."

Somy further shares that Smita Patil played a character inspired by Parveen in the film Arth and commended her for bringing depth to her character. "In Arth, Smita portrayed Kavita, the other woman whose husband leaves his wife for a younger woman, leaving her emotionally shattered and fighting for her dignity. Smita brought such raw honesty to that role-the vulnerability, the unraveling, the quiet strength beneath the breakdown."

"She showed us that mental health struggles are not weakness. They are part of the human story. And sometimes, the most beautiful performances come from the deepest pain. Both Smita's character and Parveen's real life were marked by the same painful dynamic: exploitation by powerful, charismatic men who used love as a form of control," she added.

Talking about Parveen's intense relationship with Kabir Bedi, Somy mentioned, "It was filled with passion, insecurity, and emotional manipulation that ultimately left her more fragile. The men in their lives - whether on screen or off - wielded charm and status to keep them dependent, only to discard them when the women's pain or independence became inconvenient. Smita's performance in Arth became a mirror for Parveen's real-life struggles, exposing how beauty and talent were never enough protection against the quiet cruelty of being emotionally used and then abandoned."

Somy continued that physical beauty is timeless in photographs and films, but psychological beauty, the beauty of resilience, of fighting invisible battles, of choosing to keep going even when your mind tells you to stop, is even more profound. She said, "That is the beauty that doesn't age. It deepens. Next time you look at a glamorous photograph of someone from the past, ask yourself: What was happening behind those eyes? What battles were they fighting that we never saw? And how can we do better today-for the Parveens and Smitas still among us?"

"Because true beauty - the kind that truly lasts - is not the face we show the camera. It is the courage we show when the camera stops rolling. It is the empathy we offer when someone's mind begins to fracture. It is the quiet decision to see beyond the gloss and into the soul. And that, to me, is the most timeless beauty of all," Somy ended.