Bollywood can be a strange place — one moment it embraces you with open arms and puts you on a pedestal as a star, the next moment kicks you into oblivion.
A reason, state Jiah Khan’s friends, behind the starlet taking the fatal step as she could not cope with the transience of fame. Whether we accept the explanation or not, the fact is had she been busy with films, the break-up with her boyfriend wouldn’t have torn her apart. She yearned to be busy till her very last day.
According to one of her friends, Jiah was unhappy with the kind of ‘cheap’ offers that were coming her way; she struggled to come to terms with the fact that she was no longer the sought-after girl that she used to be when she made a sensational debut with Ram Gopal Varma’s controversial film Nishabd. The break-up with her boyfriend only plunged her deeper into depression. The boyfriend is a well-known name in Mumbai’s social circle but it will be unfair to identify him since he is a young man working hard to make a career.
Here are some pictures of herself that Jiah recently uploaded on her twitter account.
I spoke to one of her friends in Mumbai and he told me that Jiah had broken up with her boyfriend last year.
“She had a break-up. Her boyfriend would come and stay over at her place, but for the last six months nobody saw him. Jiah was a strong girl and that didn’t affect her much. She took the break-up really well. What troubled her most was the fact that she is without her family here in Mumbai; there was nobody by her side when she was in depression. Her main cause of depression was not getting any good offers despite trying her level best,” said the friend.
Her friend points out to her page on Twitter, where she had re-tweeted messages about learning learnt to live without ‘certain people’. Here are those re-tweets.
“It amazes me how many people I thought I couldn’t live without until I tried”
— Tyrantasorus (@tyrantasorus) April 15, 2013
I broke his walls. Then I broke him. With the rubble I built a fortress of my own.
— Sara Muz (@SaraMuzzammil) April 6, 2013
“She had dealt with the break-up beautifully, but somehow the stress related to her work made matters worse for her. See, when you are alone, you constantly brood, think and get into depression. Had Jiah been busy with her work, nothing would have happened to her. But the problem was: She was trapped at home and there was nobody around as she tackled with depression all alone. On Twitter there will now be a deluge of tweets from filmmakers who will express their shock on her passing away, but these are same filmmakers who never bothered to help when she came asking for work,” the friend added, pointing out that she had recently auditioned for two films down south but was rejected.
He was right. Jiah had been ousted from a lot of projects lately and interestingly a hero, who didn’t even want to meet Jiah even after she had recently sent him at least three messages asking for an appointment. We are sure that he will also tweet saying that he is shocked at the news of her demise! Strange are the ways of Bollywood!
Jiah had been confined to her apartment in Juhu for some time now and didn’t go out much. She had also stopped tweeting, which was her connection with her fans. Jiah was keeping away from her friends in Mumbai, because she didn’t have a good film project to talk about. She hasn’t had a significant film announcement after Housefull in 2010. She didn’t want to come across as an actress who takes to page three parties to network when they don’t have work.
“In Mumbai film circle, you are defined by the number of films you have in your kitty, and Jiah had none, which was troubling her for some time. She was staying away from her friends because she didn’t have a big project to boast about. It was a killer combination. Her boyfriend had ditched her, her family and best friend were not around and she couldn’t keep herself busy with work. Now that’s really a deadly cocktail,” said a friend.
I will end this article with a note a filmmaker I interact with.
But before that a picture gallery from Jiah Khan’s portfolio. She was truly beautiful!
Okay, here’s the note to a filmmaker. I am sure you know who you are. Yes, I am talking to you. When people call you for work, you don’t need to be rude to them. You don’t need to tell them that he or she doesn’t fit the role because she doesn’t have the looks or her accent is not suitable for Hindi films. These pearls of wisdom are not needed from you. It’s okay to take calls regarding the casting of your film, but for heaven’s sake, don’t make sweeping statements about someone’s abilities and looks. Look what happened now.
Yes, you are a reason too.
I have heard that the last trigger was this filmmaker, who made some unsavoury remarks when Jiah sought a meeting for a role in a film. Did she meet the filmmaker or just call him? One is not sure, but it destroyed her confidence and plunged her into acute depression.
Jiah is liberated from Bollywood now. She won’t call you anymore or ask you to cast her in a film. But you will suffer silently because you know that you pushed a girl to her death. Every time you see her face on television, you will remember that it was you who gave her the blow that she couldn’t deal with anymore.
I disagree with the filmmaker simply because Jiah exuded a rare confidence as an actor.
May she rest in peace!
Before we go and pray for her, here is a song called Take Lite from Nishabd. Jiah sang this song. Yes, besides being a great performer she was an amazing singer too.
(A note to my readers: Her mother and sister was with her in Mumbai and had briefly left the house when Jiah hanged herself with a noose that she made out of her dupatta. It was around 11 pm in the night when this ‘accident’ happened. I am not commenting on the immediate events that led to her suicide. I have just tried to ascertain the circumstances that drove her to take this extreme step. The immediate trigger of the suicide remains unknown. However, it seems to be a sudden decision and not a premeditated step)
This is her last tweet to her fans on May 24, 2013. Sad, she couldn’t ever recollect her thoughts properly.
So sorry I have been off twitter! Took a bit of a break from twitter verse.. sometimes u need a sabbatical to recollect ur thoughts
— Nafisa Khan (@jiahkhan) May 24, 2013
Categories: Exclusive!
Bollywood Journalist 
Dear Writer,
I am sad that someone died an untimely death. But not taking a call, rejecting to meet an actor, passing remark about someones ability on linguistic capabilities are in our right too !! How can you abjectly comment on the “various” reasons ? Are you a soothsayer ? Please stop trying to ascertain the circumstances from your end. We have all the rights to reject, not to meet, not to pick calls, to comment on any public figure (she is/was an actress by the way). If that is the reason or even a cause which accentuated any anguish to take this kind of step,well…Its absurdly pathetic for you even to objectify it or pointing finger at anyone.
GROW UP.
Please do not try do any stupid thing after reading this post, if it destroys your confidence and put you in depression.
Thank you,
A Bollywood fan
LikeLike
so stupid, even amitabh bachchan was ridiculed and rejected…so was shahrukh and at a vertain stage even amir …..for gods sake ….u mean these people are fools to not have had a duppata arround their necks ???
LikeLike
She had the beauty and the talent too … Absolutely shocking … thats all !!!
LikeLike
Only the victim and god knows the truth when people commit suicide but it is gone out of control every single day young people r committing suicide which is not funny govt should think about some serious steps to take look into the matter and set up some help centres for it is very very disturbing children need guidance and help instead if juding and blaming each other something concrete to help todays youngesters need to be done may jiahs soul rest in peace and all other suicide victims too
LikeLike
Perhaps, it’s a simple case of an out-of-town single woman living alone in Mumbai who was unable to handle her emotions when her boyfriend left (or lost interest in) her. Sometimes, when a valued friendship ends, so does a life.
LikeLike
when u step in any industry which promises u name n fame them beware as it can give u severe pain too….u should be strong n bold enough to accept both the things; as far as being depressed is concerned its the soul responsibility of the people around the patient to keep him/her happy n jovial and make them realize that life has many other doors to be opened if one is closed…….
LikeLike
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post
LikeLike
It’s an awesome post for all the online people; they will obtain advantage from it I am sure.
LikeLike
that,s right one really has to struggle a lot to get success even we struggle in our daily life as well so this does n,t mean that one shud end up their life,s.life is not a bed of roses we shud learn to tackle things rather then giving up.
LikeLike