If it's in a conversation that people reveal themselves then i would peg Jiah Khan as a go-getter. We bonded over films, music and a love for bags. It was a mutual delight to meet another bag hoarder. Jiah's bag fixation started when she was working saturdays at a Gucci store in London. "I promised myself that for each bag that i sold in the store, I would buy one for myself. It became like a childhood ambition and today I have some 120 bags," she told me.
This ambition defined Jiah. She had the talent, the acting chops, the beauty and the killer edge to make it in Bollywood.
However her life script went horribly off track. She tried to build up on her impressive debut in Nishabd but somehow things didn't click. Bollywood had all but forgotten her but after the news of her death, Jiah came back into our minds.
Suddenly everybody is an expert on Jiah. self appointed pop psychologists are busy giving sound bytes on suicide and depression. The judgement tone in these two cent bytes is sickening. All those who are terming what she did as an act of cowardice, taking the easy way out and not being strong enough, don't know her story. We will never know what was going on in that pretty child's mind.
What dark and twisted thoughts overpowered her that forced her to end her life?
Just yesterday legendary British comedian, stephen fry confessed of a suicide attempt last year. fry, who has bipolar disorder, made a valid point when he said there is "no reason" for someone wanting to take their own life. "there is no 'why', it's not the right question. there's no reason. if there were a reason for it, you could reason someone out of it, and you could tell them why they shouldn't take their own life," he said. the same applies to Jiah. Nobody knows what she was dealing with. Was she upset because of a boy? Was she feeling low because her career hadn't taken off? Maybe it was the fickleness of stardom, the fakeness of transient relationships that she could not cope up with. Maybe she just couldn't cope.
This is a tough industry. it only celebrates success and for all the claims of it being a level playing ground, outsiders still don't have it easy in Bollywood. Without the protection of a strong support system, it's difficult to survive. Maybe Jiah just didn't want to try anymore.
Nobody cared for her when she was alive, why start now when she's dead? Let her be. Move on to the next story.
No comments:
Post a Comment