Death in Bollywood

How did Jiah Khan die? For her British family, the truth about her death still hasn’t come out. Jiah Khan was a young actor who’d starred in a number of Bollywood films, before being found dead in her Mumbai flat. Police concluded her death was suicide, but her family believe the truth has not yet surfaced. According to her family, various questions about the night of Jiah’s death still remain unanswered. The police never found the tracksuit that Jiah was seen wearing on CCTV just 15 minutes before her death. They soon concluded that Jiah had been driven to suicide by her boyfriend. In Indian law, this is a crime, abetment of suicide, which carries a jail sentence of up to ten years. He denies the charge. Jiah’s mother Rabia hires a private forensic investigator, who raises questions about the forensic evidence and suggests that the police may have been too quick to conclude this was suicide. She is determined to fight on for what she sees as justice for Jiah.

The Bollywood actor Jiah Khan was found dead in her flat in Mumbai. The police concluded that it was suicide and that her boyfriend had driven her to take her own life. He denies this, saying that people should look at her whole life when trying to understand her death. The film explores the pressures on female Bollywood stars and the scrutiny their private lives come under through the Indian media. It hears from those close to Jiah about the months leading up to her death. It sets out contrasting accounts of her relationship with her boyfriend and of events the night she died. After her death, the family find a long letter in the flat which they believe was written from Jiah to her boyfriend. Media and police termed it a suicide note. But the family dispute that she was suicidal and say the police have jumped to the wrong conclusions.

Bollywood actor Jiah Khan was found dead in her flat in 2013. Jiah Khan’s family say the investigation was incomplete. Judges granted Rabia Khan two new investigations, first by the Mumbai Police, then by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Both concluded Jiah had died by suicide and was driven to it by her boyfriend. Jiah’s family commissioned a legal case review from a British law firm. It concluded there were faults with the investigations from the night she died onwards. Vital evidence might have been missed. The film also explores Jiah’s early experiences in films as a teenager. She was typecast as ‘bold’ after starring in a version of Lolita. She worked with individuals later accused of sexual harassment during the Bollywood #metoo movement after her death. They deny wrongdoing. Her boyfriend, charged with driving her to suicide, denies this, arguing that Jiah was under pressure from a young age and suffered mental health problems before they met. Her family say she was resilient and had much to look forward to in her career. The police and CBI declined to take part in the series or to respond to allegations.