"There is history, culture, beautiful photographs"
Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan’s immaculate Rs 800 crore Pataudi Palace is truly an amazing vision to witness, however, he had to earn it back.
Saif is probably the only Bollywood actor to own a palace. Despite his royal heritage, he had to earn back the palace after it was rented to a hotel business.
After the demise of his father, cricketer Mansur Ali Khan, Saif refurbished the palace.
The estate which is also referred to as ‘Ibrahim Kothi’ is located in Pataudi in Haryana’s Gurgaon district.
The palace boasts extravagant interiors including opulent hallways, artwork, beautiful gardens surrounding the palace and much more.
Spreading across ten acres, the Pataudi Palace has 150 rooms including seven bedrooms, seven dressing rooms, seven billiard rooms, dining rooms and palatial drawing rooms.
The astounding property is valued at a staggering Rs 800 crore (£82,874,960.00).
The palace was originally designed by Robert Tor Russell in the early 1900s. He was assisted by Austrian architect Karl Molt von Heinz.
It was constructed in the style of Imperial Delhi’s colonial mansions, however, once repossessed Saif got the palace refurbished.
In fact, Saif opted to get the Pataudi Palace refurbished by interior designer Darshini Shah.
Now, it features a chic style which promotes a sense of comfort as opposed to a traditional fashion.
The palace was also used as a location for many films. These include:
- Veer-Zaara (2004)
- Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011)
- Gandhi, My Father (2007)
- Eat Pray Love (2010)
- Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005)
Speaking about the Pataudi Palace, Saif said:
“People have a certain fixed notion. For that matter, even [with] Pataudi [palace], when my father died, it got rented to Neemrana Hotels.
“Aman [Nath] and Francis [Wacziarg] used to run [the hotel]. Francis passed away. He’d said that if I wanted [the palace] back, I could let him know.
“I said: ‘I want it back’. They held a conference and said: ‘Okay, you have to give us lots of money!’ which I then consequently earned.”
Saif Ali Khan added:
“So, even the house I’m supposed to have inherited has been earned back through making money from films. You can’t live off the past.
“At least we can’t in our family because there was nothing. There is history, culture, beautiful photographs, and of course, some land.
“It has been a privileged upbringing. But there’s been no inheritance.”
Every year, Saif, Kareena and their son Taimur visit the Pataudi Palace where they meet Saif’s mother, former actress Sharmila Tagore.
Pictures of Taimur’s birthday also went viral on social media after the family celebrated it in the palace gardens.
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