Veteran actor Sajid Khan, best known for his role as young Birju in Mother India, passed away last week. The late actor started his career as a child actor in the Academy Award-nominated movie Mother India (1957). He had also worked in the sequel Son of India (1962) as well as Maya (1966). Sajid Khan was born into poverty in the Bombay slums and became a son-like figure to Bollywood filmmaker Mehboob Khan, founder of Mehboob Studios.
Sajid Khan had also guest-starred in an episode of American TV show The Big Valley and appeared as a guest judge in the music show It’s Happening. He rose to fame in the Philippines and worked in movies like The Singing Filipina (1971), My Funny Girl (1968), and The Prince and I (1971) with actor Maritess Revilla. His last film was Heat and Dust in 1983.
Sajid Khan Death: Actor battled cancer
As per reports, Sajid Khan was battling cancer and passed away on December 22, 2023. The late actor was in his 70s. His son, Sameer, shared the news, “He had been battling cancer for a while. He passed away on Friday.” The family laid Sajid Khan to rest at the Kayamkulam Town Juma Masjid in Kerala’s Alappuzha district.
Sameer further shared that after being away from the limelight, his father took to philanthropy and settled in Kerala with his second wife. “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.”
The veteran actor had worked with several prominent personalities in his career, including Mehboob Khan, Nargis, Alan and Maurice King, Jay North, Sally Field, Shashi Kapoor, the Ramsey Brothers, Sal Mineo, R.D. Burman, Nutan, and many more.
