Jiah Khan

Jiah Khan
Jiah at the Stardust Awards
Born	(1988-02-20)20 February 1988 New York City, U.S.
Died	3 June 2013(2013-06-03) (aged 25) Juhu, Mumbai, India
Nationality	British, American
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	2007–2013
Relatives	See Khan family
Website	Jiahkhan.com

Jiah Khan (born as Nafisa Rizvi Khan, 20 February 1988 – 3 June 2013) was a British American actress and singer who appeared in Hindi films.^[1] She made her film debut in the 2007 Ram Gopal Verma film Nishabd for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She was later noted for portraying a modern, independent woman in Ghajini which was the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2008. Her performance in the latter earned her significant acclaim. She last appeared in Sajid Khan's romantic comedy Housefull, which was the fifth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2010. Khan had catapulted herself into the Bollywood 100 Crore Club with Ghajini and Housefull.^[2]

On 3 June 2013, she was found dead hanging with a ceiling fan in her flat in the Sagar Sangeet building in Juhu, Mumbai. Initially suspected as a suicide case, her mother later said that she was murdered by her boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi, after several evidences were found. Her case is under probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).^{[3][4] [5]}

Early life

Khan was born into an Indian Muslim family in New York City.^[4] She was the daughter of Ali Rizvi Khan, an Indian American and Rabiya Amin, a Hindi film actress in the 1980s from Agra, Uttar Pradesh.^[6] Khan's father left the family when she was two and never came back. Describing his father's absence she said "A man who left his daughter when she was two, should be hanged in public". Her paternal aunts were Pakistani actresses Sangeeta (born Parveen Rizvi) and Kaveeta (born Nasreen Rizvi).^[7] Khan grew up in London where she completed her Edexcel O level and A level with five As, before moving to Mumbai to pursue a career in Bollywood.^[4] She has two younger sisters Kavita and Karishma.^[8] She was inspired to enter Bollywood after watching Ram Gopal Verma's former protege Urmila Matondkar's movie Rangeela at the age of six.^[9][10]

Khan studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Manhattan, though she quit upon receiving a movie offer.^[11] She learnt the dance forms of salsa, belly dancing, kathak, lambada, jazz, samba and reggae.

Career

Khan at the launch of Nokia APP in 2010.

In 2004, at the age of 16, Khan was signed to act in Mukesh Bhatt's Tumsa Nahin Dekha but backed out when both she and the director felt the role was too mature for her; she was immediately replaced by Dia Mirza. Two years later, in 2007, at the age of 18,^[12] Khan made her debut in Ram Gopal Verma's controversial romantic thriller Nishabd, as Jiah,^[13] where she acted opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Despite the provocative content in the film, it performed poorly at the box office, and earned mixed reviews from critics.^[14] Nonetheless, Khan received a mostly positive reception for her performance, with critics noting her confidence, attitude, and sex appeal. Raja Sen praised her portrayal of Jia, a seductive, free-spirited teenager, calling her performance "nuanced" and "impressive".^[15] Taran Adarsh agrees, saying that "Newcomer Jiah Khan is supremely confident. Loaded with attitude and sex appeal, the newcomer carries off her part with flourish. Her scenes with Bachchan are superb!"^[16] Rajeev Masand adds that she is "perfectly cast" for the film.^[17] She was also nominated for a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award,^[18] however lost to Deepika Padukone.

Khan with Shazahn Padamsee, Shailendra Singh, Abhishek Kapoor and Sophie Choudry at DJ Magazine launch.

The following year, she appeared alongside Aamir Khan and Asin in A.R. Murugadoss's psychological thriller Ghajini, the Hindi remake of its namesake. She played Sunita, a medical student who investigates the history of Sanjay Singhania, portrayed by Aamir Khan. The film gathered much appreciation from critics, and went on to become the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2008, as well as earn the all-time blockbuster status.^[19] Khan's performance attracted mixed reviews, with critics agreeing that her role was "sketchy".^[20] Despite this, Sukanya Verma compliments her performance, commenting that Khan "continues to strike as an exquisite and expressive actress."^[21]

In 2010, Khan had almost completed the shooting of the dance film Chance Pe Dance opposite Shahid Kapoor when the director Ken Ghosh asked her to leave the film and was replaced by Genelia D'Souza. The director said that she got over-friendly with Kapoor and was not doing her job well. However, after the release of the film, Khan said that she was asked to leave because the director had a bad eye on her. While Kapoor said that he got to know about the replacement when D'Souza came on the set for shooting. Kapoor further said that he has no hand in the replacement of Khan.^[22] However, The film was a box office flop and Khan said that she was happy for leaving the film. That same year, Khan made her last film appearance in a supporting role as Devika K. Samtani, the ex-wife of Akshay Kumar's character, in Sajid Khan's Housefull with an ensemble cast including Arjun Rampal, Riteish Deshmukh, Deepika Padukone and Lara Dutta. Upon the release, Housefull received negative reviews, however, her performance was better received. Commercially the film did very well and proved to be the highest grossing Bollywood film of the year.^[23][8][24]

Death

Khan reportedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at around 11:45 pm in a bedroom of her Juhu residence in Mumbai on Monday, 3 June 2013, when her mother Rabiya and sister Kavita were not at home.

Khan at London in 2009.

An autopsy was performed at JJ Hospital in Byculla.^[25] Her body was then brought back to her residence around 7:00 am on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, following the post-mortem.^[26]

On the same day her Namaz-e-janaza took place at Sonapur Kabar Walla Masjid and she was buried at Juhu Muslim cemetery after Dhuhr prayer as per Islamic rites. Bollywood actors in attendance included Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Riteish Deshmukh, Siddharth Mallya, Sophie Choudry, Urvashi Dholakia, Prem Chopra, Ranjeet, Deepak Parashar, Sanjay Khan and Nagma in attendance.^[27] Bollywood stars reacted with shock at her death.^[28]

On 7 June 2013, a six-page suicide note was found by her sister. The note is reported to indicate that she had planned to end her life. A transcript was released by Khan's family which included mention of a recent abortion.^[29][30] However, her mother later said that she was murdered and claimed her suicide a foul play. Upon investigation several evidences citing a murder case were found and according to the post mortem report she was suffocated. In the recent investigation it is suspected that she was suffocated with a leather belt and her body was later hung to the ceiling fan. Additionally several injury marks were found on her body.

On 8 June 2013, Khan's condolence meeting was held at Vile Parle Medical Club to pray for Jiah. Bollywood actors in attendance included Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Randhir Kapoor, Prateik Babbar, Sanjay Kapoor, Shweta Pandit, Kiran Rao, Urvashi Dholakia, Ranjeet, Deepak Parashar, Sanjay Khan and Nagma.

Aditya Pancholi's son Sooraj Pancholi, who was allegedly in a live-in relationship with Khan, was taken into custody in association with her suicide on 10 June 2013.^[31] The Bombay High Court granted him bail on 2 July 2013.^[32] Her death case is being probed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).^[33] On 3 July 2014, Bombay High Court ordered CBI probe into Jiah Khan suicide case.^[34] Jiah Khan’s suicide case transferred to CBI by High Court.^[35] The prosecution in the case charged a case of sexual assault and murder on Sooraj Pancholi. ^[36] The Bombay High Court is set to hear the matter again on 7 June 2016, following the Supreme Court's call to expedite the process.^[37]On 01 August 2016 the CBI ruled out murder in the case. As per its investigations the cause of Jiah's death was 'suicide by hanging'.,^[38]Jiah's mother Rabia hired independently a British forensic expert Jason Payne-James who concluded in a report (20 September 2016) that Jiah Khan's hanging was staged and the marks on her face and neck indicate it's not a simple case of suicide.^[39][40]

Legacy

An episode of the TV series Yeh Hai Aashiqui was loosely based on Jiah Khan's suicide, with Mihika Verma and Rithvik Dhanjani playing the central characters.^[41]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jiah Khan.

• Jiah Khan at the Internet Movie Database
• Jiah Khan on Twitter