Bollywood actress Jiah Khan was found dead in her Mumbai home in an apparent suicide, police reported on Tuesday.
The New York-born Bollywood starlet was known for her debut role in 2007’s Nishabd, in which she played opposite one of India’s top actors, Amitabh Bachchan. The film was loosely based on the classic Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita .
The 25-year-old hanged herself and was found by her mother on Monday night, said Mumbai officials . She did not leave a suicide note.
“Nafisa Khan, who is known as Jiah Khan, was found hanging by her mother at around 22:45 India time [17:15GMT] ) at her residence on the first floor of Sagar Sangeet [apartment],” said the police in an official statement .
“Her body has been taken to the hospital where a post-mortem will be conducted to find the cause of her death,” they added.
Her most recent film was the 2010 comedy Housefull .
Many of Jiah Khan’s friends and colleagues have taken to Twitter to express their grief, with most completely shocked by the news of the young actress’ suicide.
Ram Gopal Varma, who directed Jiah in Nishabd , has posted over a dozen shocked and exasperated tweets trying to reason why such a beautiful and talented young girl would take her own life:
The last time I met her jiah told me that everyone around her makes her feel like a failure
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 4, 2013
The whole unit of Nishabd was literally in love with Jiah — Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 4, 2013
I dont know the reason what led to this but jiah was very depressed about her career and scared for her future — Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 4, 2013
Additionally, her Nishabd co-star Bachchan seemed stunned by the news:
T 1128 -WHAT …!!! Jiah Khan ??? what has happened ? is this correct ? unbelievable !!!
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) June 3, 2013
Her last tweet was on May 24:
So sorry I have been off twitter! Took a bit of a break from twitter verse.. sometimes u need a sabbatical to recollect ur thoughts
— Nafisa Khan (@jiahkhan) May 24, 2013
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