MUMBAI: Actor Sajid Khan passed away after a fight with cancer. He was most known for his roles as the younger version of Sunil Dutt's Birju in Mehboob Khan's Mother India and later for his work in foreign movies like Maya and The Singing Filipina. Khan was in the early seventies. The actor’s son Sameer said, “He had been battling cancer for a while. He passed away on Friday (December 22).”

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Sameer claimed that his father and his second wife had made Kerala their home. “My father was adopted by Rajkumar Pitamber Rana and Sunita Pitamber and fostered by filmmaker Mehboob Khan. He was not active in films for a while and was mostly involved in philanthropy. He used to come to Kerala quite often and he liked it here, remarried, and settled here,” Sameer added.

In Kerala's Alappuzha district, the actor died at the Kayamkulam Town Juma Masjid. Sajid Khan portrayed the lead in Mehboob Khan's Son of India, following the Oscar-nominated film Mother India.

With his portrayal of a local boy named Raji in the film Maya, Khan became an international adolescent superstar. Raji gets friends with Jay North's character. The success of the film boosted Khan's notoriety which gave rise to a series of the same name.

In addition, he made an appearance as a guest judge on the music program It's Happening and a guest star in an episode of the American television show The Big Valley.

The actor rose to fame in the Philippines by starring alongside actor Nora Aunor in films such as My Funny Girl, The Prince and Me, and The Singing Filipina. Sajid Khan also portrayed a dacoit chief in the Heat and Dust Merchant-Ivory production.

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Credit- The Indian Express