Jiah Khan

Nafisa Rizvi Khan (20 February 1988 – 3 June 2013), better known as Jiah Khan, was an English-American-Indian actress and singer who worked in Indian films.

Nafisa Khan was born on 20 February 1988 in New York City, United States, to Ali Rizvi Khan, an American businessman, and Rabiya Amin, a Hindi film actress in the 1980s from Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Her father left the family when she was 2 years old.

She has two younger sisters Kavita and Karishma.

Her paternal aunts are Pakistani actresses Hina Rizvi, Sangeeta (Parveen Rizvi) and Kaveeta (Nasreen Rizvi).

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.

She was inspired to enter Bollywood after watching Ram Gopal Verma's former protege Urmila Matondkar's movie Rangeela at the age of six.

Khan studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Manhattan, and she quit upon receiving a movie offer.

She learned various dance forms, including belly dancing, kathak, lambada, jazz, samba and reggae.

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.

She appeared in three Hindi films from 2007 to 2010.

Born in New York City to Indian parents, she was raised and educated in London.

Khan aspired to pursue a career in acting and moved to Mumbai for a film career.

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.

Three years later, in 2007, at the age of 18, Khan made her debut in Ram Gopal Verma's controversial romantic thriller Nishabd as Jia 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.

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".

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!"

Rajeev Masand adds that she is "perfectly cast" for the film.

She was also nominated for a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award, however lost to Deepika Padukone for Om Shanti Om.

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.

She was later noted for portraying the supporting role of a modern, independent woman in Ghajini, which was the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2008.

The film gathered much appreciation from critics and went on to become the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2008.

Khan's performance attracted mixed reviews, with critics agreeing that her role was "sketchy".

Despite this, Sukanya Verma compliments her performance, commenting that Khan "continues to strike as an exquisite and expressive actress."

After a two-year absence, she was reportedly praised for her comic role in the romantic comedy Housefull, which was the fifth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2010.

She was found hanging from a ceiling fan in the bedroom of her family residence in Juhu, Mumbai.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted a thorough investigation and heard her story at the Hon'ble Bombay High Court which concluded her death as suicide.

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 she 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.

Kapoor said that he had no hand in the replacement of Khan, and got to know about the replacement when D'Souza came on the set for shooting.

However, the film was a box office flop and Khan said that she was happy for leaving the film.

That same year, she 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 release, Housefull received negative reviews, though her performance was better received.

Commercially the film did very well and became the highest grossing Bollywood film of the year.

Khan's mother continued to claim that Khan had been murdered by her boyfriend, actor Sooraj Pancholi, leading the prosecution to make a failed attempt to lay charges of murder and sexual assault in 2017.

In 2018, a court in Mumbai charged Pancholi with abetting Khan's suicide but acquitted him in April 2023 due to lack of evidence.