Sooraj Pancholi recently made his comeback with the latest release, ‘Kesari Veer.’ His comeback comes after years of legal turmoil in connection with the Jiah Khan suicide case. After almost a decade, authorities acquitted him of the abetment to suicide charges. In a recent interview, the actor reflected on the past years. He stated being proud of himself for being true to himself.
Speaking with SCREEN, Sooraj Pancholi recollected the difficult times. “My equation with my family is better than ever now because there was a point in our lives where we couldn’t make eye contact with each other and speak because there was so much pain each one of us was going through. Now we can look at each other and smile at the past. When something like that happens to a family, we, of course, get close. We were not that close before the incident, but after that, it brought us very close.”
Moreover, Sooraj added, “Even during the low phase, I was always positive because I had people around me who were a good support system. Ups and downs are a part of a person’s life, not every day can be a happy day. The trolling, the news, the bashing, being pointed at, not getting work, being pushed on the side, seeing other people go much ahead of you, everything gets to you. You have to be strong for yourself, there is no way out.”
Talking of familial equations, he revealed that he was not always on good terms with his father, Aditya Pancholi. “I was not close to my dad at one point in time, for known reasons. But after that, I understood him. He has been rock solid purely as a father for my sister and me. He was there for us, and something I learned from him was that no matter what, he was there for his children.”
Meanwhile, Jiah Khan appeared in films like ‘Gajini’ and ‘Nishabd.’ On June 3, 2013, her mother found her dead in her Mumbai abode. Following the retrieval of a six-page suicide note, police arrested her boyfriend, Sooraj Pancholi. The cops arrested him on charges of abetment to suicide. The alleged suicide note revealed Jiah’s ‘intimate relationship, physical abuse and mental and physical torture’ at the hands of Sooraj. As per the central agency, this led her to take her own life. In 2023, Sooraj was acquitted of the charges.
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