Guru Dutt to Jiah Khan: The sad saga of Bollywood stars

Mumbai: Actress Jiah Khan’s alleged suicide has shocked Bollywood but it is not an isolated case in showbiz and brings back memories of the untimely death of film personalties like Guru Dutt, Divya Bharti and Silk Smitha. Jiah, 25, at her residence in suburban Juhu late last night. She made a dream debut opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Nishabd’ in 2007. Jiah then appeared alongside Aamir Khan in Ghajini (2008) and later in a supporting role in Sajid Khan’s Housefull (2010), which was her last film. Earlier also, B-town witnessed some shocking tragedies including the death of young and vivacious Divya Bharti at the age of 19 in 1993, after she allegedly fell off the fifth floor of a building. Mystery still shrouds her death and it remains unclear whether she was pushed to death or she was inebriated and lost her balance. [caption id=“attachment_841789” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] Divya had made an impact in Bollywood in her brief career with films like ‘Vishwatma’, ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’ and ‘Deewana’ and others. One of the most glamorous starlets of her time, Parveen Babi, died a lonely death in 2005 at her flat in Mumbai. Her death came to light only after her residential society secretary alerted the police that she had not picked up milk and newspapers from her doorstep for three days. In her case also, it was not clear whether she committed suicide or died a natural death. PTI