Revision as of 17:56, 20 March 2015

Jiah Khan

Personal details

Jiah Khan

Born: February 20, 1988 in New York City, USA

Died: June 3, 2013 in Mumbai

Filmography

As an actress

1998 Dil Se..

2007 Nishabd

2008 Ghajini

2010 Housefull

As a singer

2007 Nishabd

Her life and career

10 [shocking] facts about Jiah Khan

By Pritika Ghura The Times of India

On 3 June 2013 Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan, who had worked with the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, was found dead at her Mumbai residence under mysterious conditions. Her sudden death continues to remain a mystery as it is yet not ascertained whether it was a suicide or a cold-blooded murder. While her alleged suicide was initially attributed to a lack of assignments, it was later said that she was depressed due to her failed relationship with actor Suraj Pancholi. Though Jiah's mother blames Suraj for Jiah's death, there are many in the industry who still believe he is innocent and are launching him in Bollywood. The Times of India brings you ten shocking facts about the actress and her suicide case.

Jiah Khan's Love life: Jiah Khan changed her name from Nafisa Rizvi Khan before making her debut in Nishabd (2007) and changed it back to Nafisa Khan in 2012. A Daily Bhaskar report says that the spunky actress previously dated producer Bunty Walia's younger brother Jaspreet and Kanishk Gangwa before she was in a relationship with Aditya Pancholi’s son Suraj. It is also said that once she bumped into Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom in Venice and chatted with him for some time.

Inspiration and aspirations: Not many people know that Jiah Khan had developed an interest in acting and wanted to enter Bollywood after watching Ram Gopal Verma's former protege Urmila Matondkar's movie Rangeela at the age of six. She was very impressed by Urmila and decided to become an actress. In fact, Jiah portrayed the childhood role of Manisha Koirala in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 1998 film Dil Se.

The grand debut: Jiah Khan made her Bollywood debut at the age of 18, opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Nishabd in 2007. The movie landed in controversy due to its bold storyline where a 60-year-old man (played by Big B) falls for his daughter’s 18-year-old friend (Jiah). She also got a 'Filmfare Best Debutant' nomination for her performance in the film. However, she lost to Deepika Padukone who won the award for her role in Om Shanti Om.

Movies she missed: It is said that Jiah Khan was the original choice for the 2004 Mukesh Bhatt movie Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Jiah reportedly backed out as she felt the role was too mature for her. Eventually the role was then offered to Dia Mirza. Jiah was also the original choice for the Ken Ghosh movie Chance Pe Dance that was released in 2010. However, she was replaced by Genelia D’souza.

The dancing queen: An interesting fact that very few people know about Jiah is that she was a trained opera singer and had recorded six pop tracks when she was just 16. She was very ambitious and wanted to release a full album with the help of her friends. She was also a trained dancer and an expert in Reggae, Belly dancing, Lambada, Salsa, Kathak, Jazz and Samba.

Jiah Khan-Suraj Pancholi’s love story: While we all know that Jiah was in a relationship with Suraj, what we don’t know is that they met through Facebook just 10 months before she committed suicide. In an interview to TOI, Suraj said that he fell in love with Jiah as he could relate to her and felt sorry for her. He said that she was depressed as she was not getting work, her relationship with her family was not good and the fact that her father had disowned her. Suraj was four years younger to her and claimed to be in love with her. He said that he used to often talk to her and counsel her so that she could get over her problems. He admitted that he had a physical relationship with her. However, he denied that he had any knowledge about her pregnancy. After her suicide, Suraj was arrested on the charge of abetting the suicide of Jiah Khan. He was arrested on the basis of a letter, purportedly written by Jiah, which was found by her mother Rabiyah Khan from Jiah's bedroom a few days after she hung herself from the ceiling fan on June 3. In the letter, Jiah wrote how she was mentally harassed by Suraj and how she had undergone an abortion.

Aditya Pancholi did not approve of Jiah Khan: In an exclusive interview to The Times Of India dated July 23, 2013, Suraj had admitted that initially his father, Aditya Pancholi, did not approve of her as she had a really sexy image. The senior actor became very defensive whenever anyone quizzed him about his son’s involvement in her suicide, and also showed his ire during the funeral of the actress. It seems all accusations against his son had got to him as he had attacked a reporter at Jiah’s funeral. Aditya too has a controversial past and has been in the news for a volatile temper. He was previously in the spotlight regarding a brawl with a neighbour and also for allegedly being abusive towards his alleged girlfriend Kangna Ranaut.

Though police cliam that tragic actress Jiah Khan commited suicide due to depression, there is evidence that suggest that the actress could be murdered. Forensic reports said fragments of human flesh were found under the actor's fingernails, which experts say is usually a sign of struggle. There were also blood stains in her underwear which means the same. Jiah's mother Rabia Khan has all along maintained that her daughter did not commit suicide and the latest we hear is that she has sought the help of the British police to investigate her daughter's death. A report in IBN claims that she has written to Foreign Secretary William Hague to help bring about justice for her daughter. However, if Jiah was murdered then who is responsible for it?

In another shocking turn of events, Jiah Khan’s mother Rabia claimed that her daughter has been murdered and is seeking the British police’s help to probe into the matter. However, Aditya Pancholi alleged that her intention is to claim insurance. In an Indian Express report, Aditya said that Rabia is shouting murder after three months of her daughter’s death proves that she is doing it for insurance money. In fact, Rabia had retorted that she has no such insurance policy and only Pancholis could think of money. She also had a war of words with Zarina Wahab, Suraj’s mother. In fact, superstar Salman Khan was dragged in this controversy as it was alleged that he too had advised Suraj to stay away from Jiah Khan.

An unfinished dream: Despite a brilliant start, Jiah Khan struggled to find a place for herself in Bollywood

GAYATRI JAYARAMAN

JUNE 7, 2013

INDIA TODAY

Her nickname was also Bebo. "Do you even want to be in films?" director Anurag Basu had asked Nafisa "Jiah" Khan, then 16, on the sets of Tumsa Nahin Dekha, then called Zaroorat. It was 2003, and the second schedule of the film was being shot in Dubai. The first schedule in Mumbai had just been completed, and it was Jiah's official debut opposite Emraan Hashmi. The character, especially created for her, which was later played by Dia Mirza, was also called Jiya Khan. Jiah replied "maybe it's my parents who want me to like films". She was too young, too confused and too unsure, says Basu. So, they let her go.

Mahesh Bhatt, producer of the film, who was first introduced to Jiah in 2001, outside Harrods in London by UK-based producer Sevy Ali, recalls his first impression of her. "Her eyes were so intense, I told her mother, if she ever wants to be a star she should call me." A few years later, her mother Rabiya Amin called Bhatt when the family visited Mumbai and the die was cast. Jiah went to school in Chelsea, and lived with her two sisters in an affluent South Kensington home. Her father, Ali Rizvi Khan, had abandoned them as children and her mother had acted in a few films in the 1980s. She scripted and directed Tehzeeb Apni Apni, an independent production for British television produced by Ali, in which Jiah made her debut as a child actor. Jiah had also starred as the young Manisha Koirala in the role of Meghna in Shekhar Kapur's Dil Se. But it was on the second schedule of Tumsa Nahin Dekha that news started filtering in of Jiah's unpredictability, says Bhatt. She would be up one minute, down the next. In 2009, she claimed to have walked out of Ken Ghosh's Yahoo (released in 2010 as Chance Pe Dance), though it was rumoured that she was let go because Shahid Kapoor didn't take to her. The story was repeated in 2009 with Pehla Sitara directed by Owais Husain, M.F. Husain's son. Sonal Chauhan later replaced Jiah in the film.

But actresses walk out of films all the time, says Ali. While Jiah was beautiful, volatile and temperamental like any actress, he adds, she was also deeply driven. When the film with Bhatt didn't work out, Jiah went away to the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, dropping out of the course and returning in 2006 to do Nishabd, a relaunch with Ram Gopal Varma.

Sadly, the industry that painted her the next best thing one day, called her a washout the next. Despite Nishabd, in which she starred with Amitabh Bachchan, and for which she received the Filmfare Best Debutante Award that year, her career remained stagnant. She received only one brand endorsement in the interim.

Jiah was offered Ghajini in 2008, with Aamir Khan. Here, too, rumours of differences erupted. But news reports also claim that Aamir helped her work on her Urdu to lose her clipped accent. She seemed a willing pupil, working against all the failings Bollywood repeatedly kept pointing out to her.

"She has so much talent. I am so proud of her. I just want to be there as her support because I know how tough the film world can be," Rabiya said, soon after Jiah had bagged the role in Ghajini. Jiah and her mother were like best friends, and she was always advising Jiah on auditions and her wardrobe on the phone from London.

But for the introverted Jiah, Bollywood's glamour circuit was not one she knew how to crack. She was lonely. "I don't enjoy drinking or partying through the night. That's just the way I am," she had said a few years ago.

Producer Madhu Mantena signed her on for a second film post-Ghajini, and UTV inked a two-film deal with her. Neither came to the floors; the studios won't say why. In 2009, she received a supporting actress role in Sajid Khan's Housefull, partnering with Akshay Kumar. Her last long visit home was in June that year when she was on a gruelling diet to ensure she could match up to co-stars Deepika Padukone and Lara Dutta in bikinis. It was to be her last role on screen. Jiah's body image always played heavily on her mind. "Everyone thinks I am this starry-starry girl but when I am home, I get treated like nobody," she had joked back then.

On her return to Mumbai, Jiah changed her name back to Nafisa. But still nothing came her way. Jiah vied for leads in Telugu films, but she was told that she was "too thin". She tried to settle for item numbers and was reportedly banking on one such coming through. She met Telugu star Navdeep for lunch on June 1 and told him she had picked up an item number in a big Telugu film. "She wasn't exactly upbeat but she wasn't without hope," says Navdeep. Sources say that the one item number offer too fell through the weekend before she died.

In her personal life, Jiah was earlier seeing Jasmeet Singh Walia, younger brother of producer Bunty Singh Walia. She was in a relationship with Sooraj Pancholi, son of Aditya Pancholi, for two years now. Sooraj, 22, had assisted a few directors and was waiting for his big Bollywood break. Salman Khan, who recently announced that he would take him under his wing, was the much hoped-for window. While the family knew of the relationship, Jiah was very private about it, says Sevy Ali. She didn't discuss it much but she didn't seem happy about where it was headed. Two weeks ago, Rabiya and Ali had tried to tell her to move on professionally and personally. Jiah suspected Sooraj was developing a growing interest in another woman. He said he needed to focus on his career, and was growing aloof. He tried to calm her down.The lovers' argument began at 9 p.m. on June 4, 2013. It continued till 10.53 p.m. By 11.30 p.m., Jiah Khan, 25, had finished her unfinished life.