Once there was Jiah Khan

A few years ago, when I was working as an entertainment journalist with a magazine, in Mumbai I met Jiah Khan, as she was known back then. We were to shoot with her for a fashion spread. Her publicist made the arrangements and the date was set, for a summery afternoon  with a popular Bandra restaurant as our location.

When I walked into the room where she was to get ready, to meet Jiah/Nafisa, I was pleasantly surprised by what I was greeted by. A bubbly young girl with a somewhat British accent, in shorts and a loose t-shirt sitting comfortably on the bed talking nineteen to the dozen. Yes she was no multi-film starring A-list Bollywood star, neither was she a nobody. Caught somewhere in the middle, Jiah Khan’s personality was something you could not ignore. She bounced up and down the bed, pouted like a little girl and stuck a cigarette in her mouth, puffing away, all with the energy of a wind-up toy with tireless batteries.

Here’s what I remember most of that afternoon. Each time the photographer clicked a shot, Jiah put on her game face and posed. A sexy, confident pose of a confident woman not so far from the character she played in Nishabd. But that was just a face she put on and something the photographer knew. When asked to shed her inhibitions and be herself, a whole other side of Jiah was revealed. I may not be able to explain exactly what it was I saw, but perhaps the  best way to put it was that she looked like nothing more than an innocent young girl, trying hard to put on a brave face, but just vulnerable at heart.

The second time I met Jiah was during a shoot with her neighbour in Juhu, Sikander Kher. As we shot in the alley adjacent to her building and his house, there was a loud screaming voice saying hello. I looked up to see Jiah popping out of her window, waving hello, oblivious to the camera, chirpy as ever. Not much had changed till then. Until now.


Her reasons for committing suicide are unknown as yet, but its sad, when ending her life seemed the only option for her. RIP Nafisa (Jiah) Khan.