Death of Jiah Khan exposes dark shades of Bollywood
5 Jun 2013 5:56 AM IST
While on the one hand Bollywood celebrates its first biggest grosser this year in Yeh Jawaani hai Deewani , on the other hand Jiah Khan’s suicide got people to look into the murky world of Bollywood that takes away more than it offers to its actors and aspirants.
Jiah Khan, having starred in movies like Nishabd, Ghajini and Housefull was without a job for the last three years, as Ram Gopal Verma said, and she was depressed and scared about her future. Though touted as an actress who oozed sex appeal and spunk, Jiah could not deal with the uncertainty of her career and at 25 years of age, decided to end it all by hanging herself in her Juhu flat on Monday night.
Jiah’s death, however, is not the first of the lot in Bollywood. The glitz and glam, or the absence of it, seems to have been taking away lives for years. Famous yesteryears’ actor Guru Dutt was the first to take his own life in 1964. It is believed that he was very depressed in the last few years before his death and with alcoholism added to his list of problems, Dutt could not find a reason to keep living.
Silk Smitha also committed suicide in 1996. The celebrated actress, on whose life The Dirty Picture is based, killed herself with sleeping pills and alcohol when she was 35. The highs in her career had long ended and the last few years leading to her death she was plagued with failure in love, career and financial difficulties.
Dimple Kapadia’s sister – Reema Kapadia also committed suicide, she had acted in one movie in Bollywood. Manmohan Desai killed himself in 1994. Closer to this decade, Parveen Babi, Divya Bharati, Nafisa Joseph and Viveka Babaji are all actresses who chose to end their lives rather than keep living a life that had very little to offer them.
Parveen Babi apparently starved herself to death in 1993, she was 55. Enough controversy plagues 19-year-old Divya Bharati’s death; she fell off the window ledge of her five-storey house in Versova when her career was at its peak. She had just won the Filmfare for the best debut and was acting in hits after hits when her life came to an abrupt halt. Both Nafisa Joseph (26) and Viveka Babaji (37) were jilted in love and chose to end their lives by hanging themselves in their Mumbai flats.
If one matter stand out, when one considers these deaths in retrospect, that is the fact that depression seems to be most unkind to those in Bollywood who aspire and do not manage to bag it all. The glittering world of money and fame seem to be more cruel than kind when it comes to talent that fails to succeed in time. Jiah might have been a talented actress but no director seemed to want her on board for the last three years. Months must have passed while the 25 year old actress must have been struggling to find her foothold in the industry. Even Ram Gopal Verma could not help it seems.
The pressure to be on top, the constant worry of being ousted by the latest new face on the block is what keeps the actresses on their toes in an industry where competition is cut throat. The murky world of incestuous, casting couch plagued, sycophancy fuelled universe –for those who cannot cope with the pressure, suicide seems to be the way out. While one can be ass celebrated as it gets, one can be ignored and pushed away with equal fervor. That is what took Jiah Khan away a bit too early.
Jiah Khan, having starred in movies like Nishabd, Ghajini and Housefull was without a job for the last three years, as Ram Gopal Verma said, and she was depressed and scared about her future. Though touted as an actress who oozed sex appeal and spunk, Jiah could not deal with the uncertainty of her career and at 25 years of age, decided to end it all by hanging herself in her Juhu flat on Monday night.
Jiah’s death, however, is not the first of the lot in Bollywood. The glitz and glam, or the absence of it, seems to have been taking away lives for years. Famous yesteryears’ actor Guru Dutt was the first to take his own life in 1964. It is believed that he was very depressed in the last few years before his death and with alcoholism added to his list of problems, Dutt could not find a reason to keep living.
Silk Smitha also committed suicide in 1996. The celebrated actress, on whose life The Dirty Picture is based, killed herself with sleeping pills and alcohol when she was 35. The highs in her career had long ended and the last few years leading to her death she was plagued with failure in love, career and financial difficulties.
Dimple Kapadia’s sister – Reema Kapadia also committed suicide, she had acted in one movie in Bollywood. Manmohan Desai killed himself in 1994. Closer to this decade, Parveen Babi, Divya Bharati, Nafisa Joseph and Viveka Babaji are all actresses who chose to end their lives rather than keep living a life that had very little to offer them.
Parveen Babi apparently starved herself to death in 1993, she was 55. Enough controversy plagues 19-year-old Divya Bharati’s death; she fell off the window ledge of her five-storey house in Versova when her career was at its peak. She had just won the Filmfare for the best debut and was acting in hits after hits when her life came to an abrupt halt. Both Nafisa Joseph (26) and Viveka Babaji (37) were jilted in love and chose to end their lives by hanging themselves in their Mumbai flats.
If one matter stand out, when one considers these deaths in retrospect, that is the fact that depression seems to be most unkind to those in Bollywood who aspire and do not manage to bag it all. The glittering world of money and fame seem to be more cruel than kind when it comes to talent that fails to succeed in time. Jiah might have been a talented actress but no director seemed to want her on board for the last three years. Months must have passed while the 25 year old actress must have been struggling to find her foothold in the industry. Even Ram Gopal Verma could not help it seems.
The pressure to be on top, the constant worry of being ousted by the latest new face on the block is what keeps the actresses on their toes in an industry where competition is cut throat. The murky world of incestuous, casting couch plagued, sycophancy fuelled universe –for those who cannot cope with the pressure, suicide seems to be the way out. While one can be ass celebrated as it gets, one can be ignored and pushed away with equal fervor. That is what took Jiah Khan away a bit too early.
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