Jiah Khan
Name: Jiah Khan (Nafisa Khan)
Birthdate: 20th February, 1988
Died: 3rd June, 2013
Zodiac: Pisces
Biography:
Jiah Khan, the American born Indian actress, was born as Nafisa Khan on the 20th of February, 1988 in the New York city. She was born into a Muslim family. Her father, Ali Rizvi Khan was an Indian American while her mother, Rabiya Amin was a film actress in the 1980s who hailed from Agra in Uttar Pradesh. She grew up in London where she did her Edexel A and O levels and she got through it with a wonderful result of 5 As’, after which Jiah decided to move to Mumbai in order to pursue a career in the film industry. Jiah has 2 sisters – Karishma and Kavita. Her interest in movies grew from a very ripe age. When she was just six years of age, she was greatly influenced by Ram Gopal Verma’s 1995 flick called Rangeela and from that she gained a lot of inspiration as a result of which she wanted to enter the Bollywood film industry.
Jiah Khan pursued her education from the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute situated in Manhattan. She soon left her education when she got a film offer. Jiah had also received training as an opera singer and she had already sung 6 pop tracks by the time she was seventeen years of age.
When she was sixteen, she was to star in Mukesh Bhatt’s film Tumsa Nahin Dekha but later on she soon stepped back from the role as both Jiah and Mukesh felt that the role which she was about to play was a bit too matured for Jiah, as a result of which she was replaced by actress Dia MIrza. Next up in the year 2007, she debuted in the controversial romantic thriller film Nishabd, directed by Ram Gopal Verma and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Revathi and Jiah Khan herself. Although the film was not quite successful at the box office, yet Jiah Khan’s performance in the film was greatly appreciated by the critics. She earned a nomination for the prestigious Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for her performance in ‘Nishabd’.
In the year 2008, she starred in the action psychological thriller flick Ghajini, directed by A. R. Murugadoss and starring Aamir Khan and Asin. This film was a huge commercial blockbuster and Jiah received mixed reviews for her performance in the film.
Next up she had also signed up for Ken Ghosh’s film ‘Chance Pe Dance’ but later on she was replaced by actress Genelia D’ Souza. One of her last appearances on the silver screen was in Sajid Khan’s comedy flick ‘Housefull’ (2010), starring Jiah Khan along with Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Lara Dutta and Riteish Deshmukh. This film was also a huge commercial success and ‘Houseful’ became Jiah Khan’s second highest grossing Bollywood flick.
Jiah Khan committed suicide on 3rd June 2013 by hanging herself on a ceiling fan at her Juhu residence, Mumbai. She committed suicide at around 11.45 pm when no one was present at home. Many eminent personalities from Bollywood reacted with shock at her death. On the 8th of June, her Condolence meeting was organised at the Vile Parle Medical Club. It was attended by various Bollywood actors such as Naghma, Sanjay Khan, Deepak Parashar, Ranjeet, Urvashi Dholakia, Kiran Rao, Shweta Pandit, Sanjay Kapoor, Prateik Babbar, Randhir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Aamir Khan.
Before her death, Jiah Khan had already signed up for three south Indian films.
