Saif Ali Khan the Bollywood actor and the legal heir of the erstwhile Pataudi kingdom has been anointed the tenth Nawab of Pataudi at a ceremony at his ancestral palace at Patuadi on Moday, over a month after his father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi passed away. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also present at the ceremony.

Flanked by his mother Sharmila Tagore and two sisters, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was anointed the tenth Nawab of Pataudi at a ceremony at the family's Ibrahim Palace in chahallum and rasam pagri (coronation ceremony). Heads of 52 villages of the area tied a white turban (pagri) around the head of the 41-year-old star. He will now have to take care of his father’s estate, their ancestral home, eye hospital and other charitable institutions. Mr. Khan’s sister Saba was made the patron of the Auqaf-e-Shahi last week.

Titles like Nawab are no more recognized by the government after princely states were abolished in 1971. Mansoor Ali Khan was the last Nawab who reigned between 1952 and 1971. The people of Pataudi wanted Saif to be crowned the 10th Nawab to continue the family tradition, according to village representatives.