Thiruvananthapuram, Tuesday, February 02, 2010: Popular Malayalam actor Cochin Haneefa passed away at a private hospital in Chennai this afternoon. He was, 59. He has been undergoing treatments for liver related ailments quiet some time in Chennai and finally gave in after a tough fight.

Born as Salim Ahmed Ghoush he adopted his stage name Cochin Haneefa in films. He was a comic member of the famed ‘Cochin Kalabhavan Troupe’. He made his film debut in 1979 in a small role in ‘Ashtavakran’ and since then rose to become a very popular actor. He kept his name Haneefa in light of a character he played in a drama

He has more than 300 films to his credit, which includes Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films. He was also very much into other area of film making which included direction and screenplay writing. As a filmmaker he is known for the melodrama Valtsalyam (1993).