25-year-old Bollywood actress, Jiah Khan, was found dead Monday evening (May 3) in her Mumbai apartment, the New York Daily News reports. According to Reuters, Khan was found "hanged in her room" by her mother. The last phone call Khan made was to her friend Suraj Pancholi, who was questioned but a police source told Reuters the death was not being treated as suspicious because it appears to have been a suicide although no suicide note was found.
Khan, whose real name was Nafisa Khan, was born in New York and grew up in London. She attended the Lee Strasberg's Institute in New York City before moving to Mumbai to begin her acting career. Her first film was a 2007 Hindi movie called "Nishabd," in which she played a teenager who fell in love with her best friend's father, played by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. She appeared in three films, her last one being a 2010 comedy called "Housefull."
Several stars Khan worked with throughout her career took to Twitter to express their shock and give their condolences. Indian film director and producer, Ram Gopal Varma, said he was "shocked and chocked to hear about Jiah." He also tweeted that the star was suffering from depression and was not happy with her acting career.
He went on to say that "the whole unit of Nishabd was literally in love with Jiah."
A fellow actress, Dia Mirza, tweeted how shocked to hear about the news adding "This in NO WAY to go! Life is too precious. The worst phases pass. THEY DO. Never give up! #Jiah."
Another fellow actor, Amitabh Bachchan, who starred in the movie "Nishabd" with Khan tweeted "What...!! Jiah Khan??? What happened? Is this correct? Unbelievable!!!"
