I remember Jiah Khan as the free-spirited girl audacious enough to flirt with a man four times her age just because he was of her type in Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd. I have many a fond moments of the film and the actress in particular but thanks to an innocuous “friend” on Facebook I came to know of her suicide on 3 June 2013. About to shut down my laptop that was the last thing I came across on that day and my immediate reaction was not of shock or disappointment. I felt weak, too weak even to sleep. I lay on my bed recalling that girl with long hair and lively eyes in Nishabd and wondering in disbelief if that was only a façade people in showbiz invariably had to adorn.

Though there is no right time to end a life, Jiah could not have picked a time more wrong to commit the act than the times we find ourselves now. At a time where success becomes the measure of a person and identities are hard to find, can we afford to have a resolve, which is vulnerable to depression arising from relationships that are more opportunistic (hence confused) than idealistic? They say that the people whom we trust the most hurt us the most, but is it prudent on our part to place our trust on people who are becoming alarmingly cold and distant with time? There are no easy answers but the thought that she could not summon the courage to battle on or deem worthy a shoulder to take solace from anyone is as depressing in its reality as frightening in its acuity. And the loss was not hers alone. With her, a part of humanity’s verve has been damaged irreparably leaving fresh, deep scars of insecurity and uncertainty on a generation that finds itself increasingly embroiled in these issues and looking up to people they identify with for direction.

Being a 25 year old is an exciting phase of life where you can take risks and decisions’, explore opportunities, learn lessons out of failures knowing that time is on your side and you can bounce back being an experienced person to take the world head on in its game.  Unfortunately Jiah will not grow any older or wiser after this decision.

We can never know what has happened and what was going on through her mind but much will be written, parallels will be drawn and psychoanalyses will abound, all in a vague notion of identifying what went wrong and what should have been done and in all probability they might end, rather ironically, in making a movie out of her.  What a waste.


Peace is a good thing to have and it is the least and the best Jiah Khan can now have out of what she has done to herself. I wish she achieved it at least. Rest in Peace Jiah Khan. Whatever that means.