Nafisa aka Jiah Khan, an actor who created waves by playing novelist Nabakov’s innocent nubile “Lolita” in the Hindi film “Nishabd,” committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in her Juhu residence on Monday night.
The 25-year-old actor, who was last seen on screen three years ago in the film “Houseful,” apparently was under severe depression due to problems in personal relationship.
According to the police, Jiah’s mother and sister found the actor hanging with a “dupatta” around neck when they returned home around 11 pm.
Suraj, the son of actors Aditya Pancholi and wife Zarina Wahab, was summoned by the police on Tuesday, as he was reportedly the last person to whom Jiah spoke on Monday night. After a brief questioning Suraj was allowed to leave.
The police said Suraj and Jiah were often spotted together, hanging out in pubs throughout the past year. Though it has not been confirmed, the grapevine has it that the two were in a steady relationship.
Earlier on Tuesday, the police also questioned the domestic help and watchman of the building.
Soon after her birth, Jiah’s parents Ali Rizvi Khan and Rabiya Amin moved to Chelsea in London. At the age of 17, her website states, Jiah went to New York to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
Thereafter, in 2007, she grabbed headlines after playing the protagonist in Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Nishabd,” directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film flopped, but Jiah got a Filmfare nomination for best debutante. The next year saw her appearing with Aamir Khan in A R Murugadoss’s “Ghajini”.
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