Soon after the investigation of Sushant Singh Rajput's death case started, it brought to the surface many old videos in Bollywood. After Rhea Chakraborty, who was the main accused in the actor's death, video of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt with 16-year-old Jiah Khan had surfaced the internet and had went viral. Many had alleged that Bhatt had a role in the death of Sushant through the late actor's girlfriend Rhea. Earlier, a WhatsApp chat of Rhea and Bhatt had also gone viral in which she was seen thanking him for giving her the strength to break up with Sushant. Next we know, an old video from the early 2000s featuring filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt with the late actress Jiah Khan broke the internet. The video, said to be from 2004, had Jiah cozying up to Bhatt and sharing a laugh.
Jiah made her Bollywood debut in Ram Gopal Varma's Nishabd, starring Amitabh Bachchan, in 2007, although unconfirmed reports have stated that she was originally supposed to be cast in the 2004 release Tumsa Nahin Dekha, starring Emraan Hashmi and produced by Mahesh's brother Mukesh Bhatt.
The video, available on an Instagram page, started doing the rounds as Mahesh Bhatt was being heavily trolled for his links with actress Rhea Chakraborty, who was the girlfriend of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Bhatt had also been facing social media ire over allegations that he had been promoting nepotism in Bollywood.
Rhea has been facing public and media heat ever since, shortly after Sushant's death, his family filed an FIR charging Rhea and her family, among others, with abetment to suicide among other charges.
On the other hand, the conversation on Bollywood nepotism and favouritism had started all over again in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death on June 14, and Mahesh Bhatt had been heavily trolled in all these months.
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Bhatt's film Sadak 2, starring his daughters Alia and Pooja Bhatt along with Sanjay Dutt and Aditya Roy Kapur, was being seen as a prime example of Bollywood nepotism by a vast number of netizens since it's release date was closer to the incident, and the film was trolled ever since its first look was launched. In fact the trailer of the film became one of the top three most disliked videos in the world, and a hashtag demanding the boycott of Sadak 2 had been trending. The film release on an OTT platform on August 28.
Jiah Khan was found dead under suspicious circumstances on June 3 2013, following which a case was filed against actor Sooraj Pancholi. Jiah's mother Rabia Khan has alleged Sooraj and his father, actor Aditya Pancholi, used their clout to hush up the case.
(With IANS inputs)
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