Actress Jiah Khan‘s life ended too soon at the age of 25. The British Indian beauty and Bollywood star was found dead in her Mumbai apartment from an apparent suicide. According to police officials, Khan’s mother discovered the actress’ body Monday night. Reports say Khan had hung herself with a long scarf, known as a dupatta. The Bollywood world is stricken with grief.
While Khan had scene fame back in 2007 for her provocative role in Ram Gopal Varma’s “Nishabd,” the actress had not worked since 2010. The director, Varma said on Twitter, “Never ever seen a debutant actress with more spunk and more spirit than Jian when I was directing her in ‘Nishabd. I don’t know the reason what led to this but Jiah was very depressed about her career and scared for her future.”
After “Nishabd,” she went on to star in films opposite Bollywood names such as Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar. Her final performance was a supporting role for the 2010 comedy “Housefull.” The actress was born in New York as Nafisa Khan and grew up in London. She studied method acting at New York’s Lee Strasberg Film and Theater Institute and moved to Mumbai for her craft, renaming herself “Jiah” in phoenetic homage to Gia Carangi, the late supermodel portrayed by Angelina Jolie in an Emmy-winning role in the 1998 HBO biopic “Gia.”
