EXCLUSIVE: Sooraj Pancholi on Jiah Khan case: ‘I don’t want to go against Jiah’s mother as I want to move on’

Recently, actor Sooraj Pancholi finally got closure in the Jiah Khan death case. On Friday, 28th April he was pronounced not guilty and with that, his life changed for the good again. While the actor surely breathed a sigh of relief almost after a decade, I spoke to him to understand what all he had gone through. In the conversation, Sooraj revealed how after a long he slept without a thought of uncertainty and woke up with the thought of work.

Sooraj Pancholi revealed how he finally felt after the verdict…

Finally after so many years, I woke up with thinking about nothing except work. I don’t know when the last I woke up thinking about work was. I also went to sleep thinking about nothing, which is very different from what I have faced in all these years. It was always waking up with the feeling that I have to face the world now, I have to go out to the gym or for meetings. I always felt that people were talking negative, maybe they weren’t. Even a small thing makes a person insecure, imagine what this must have made me feel.”

Sooraj even revisited that fateful time when he was just 21 and at the receiving end of so much.

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Talking about his relationship with the late Jiah Khan he said…

I was only 20 when I met Jiah, I was 21 when all this happened. People don’t realize that I only knew her for 5 months, that’s not enough to know anybody. At that age you are trying to understand yourself, how will you try to understand somebody else? I was just there at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Recalling the days of his trial, Sooraj further added…

They arrested me and put me in jail, then there was another investigative team on the case, they raided my house, then again the case was transferred to CBI who started the investigation all over again. This was all while I was shooting for Hero. So I was also shooting a film at one time and also sitting at the CBI office for 14-18 hours during the day. But I was still trying to make a career. Throughout Hero I was numb in a way, but I still gave it my all. Imagine, I was going through a CBI investigation while filming my first film, I don’t think I was ready for it. Looking back at it right now, I don’t know how I did that.”

Sooraj even shared how he was under a lot of pressure during that time. In fact, revisiting the Hero trailer launch where he cried hugging Salman Khan, Sooraj said…

When I saw him (Salman Khan) just look at me walking up the stage and what that man has done for me, it was mixed emotions. It felt like I was hugging a godfather. It was a sense of relief with all the harassment. I was going through a CBI investigation, there was a lot of pressure on me.

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Sooraj Pancholi even commented on how the industry saw him, he shared…

When you face people in the industry they are always nice to you. Few of them have genuinely been nice friends to me, like Varun Dhawan, Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Kiara Advani. There were times in Bollywood events or parties where I would always reach after everybody and leave before everybody left. I felt slightly out of place, because I felt I am the outsider even though my family has been in the industry for so many years. I felt unwanted in a way because I didn’t want people to feel like they don’t want to be close to me. It is the worst feeling any person should go through.”

Now Sooraj plans to work hard and even make up for the 10 years that he has lost. He believes in himself and knows that he is hardworking. He even shared how Satellite Shankar didn’t get the release it deserved. Yes, the film was released in Covid times on Zee5. Being an assistant director from a very young age, Sooraj wishes to now work thrice as hard.

He further shares…

I have approached everybody in the past, it’s not that Sooraj was just sitting at home and just going to the gym. There was so much more I was doing. I was always approaching producers, directors, and writers, but its very tough when you have a legal case on you. Even if the directors or producers like you it comes to when is the case getting over and I had no answer for it. I could not travel out of the country, for me to do so, it took me a long time to get a single permission. I have lost so many films also because of that reason.”

Sooraj is content that he took good care of himself in these 10 years. In fact, he even said how he never slipped into depression or got into doing drugs. In fact, he stayed focused, for he knew that he was clean and one day it would all get over.

On a concluding note, I asked Zarina Wahab and Aditya Pancholi’s son, if there was ever a low point and how did he deal with it. And…

Sooraj shared…

When something like what happened to me, happens, you cannot even speak to your family because you already see the pain that they are going through. My father and mother were helpless because they couldn’t do anything. My trial was a complete media trial, it was not in court, it was more outside the court. Now after 10 years, in the proceedings the letter and suicide note have been confirmed false, so why was I even arrested. I don’t want to go against the Mumbai police or the authorities, or even Jiah’s mother because I want to move on. If I stick to getting my revenge, its not going to work for me.”

Well, Sooraj has begun to move and not let this ghost from his past harbour on him anymore. I am glad to see him have this approach and I wish to see on the big screen very soon now.

Also Read: Sooraj Pancholi seeks blessing at Siddhivinayak Temple post acquittal in Jiah Khan death case