Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, who is the son of the late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore, shared that he had to earn back his ancestral palace in Pataudi after it was rented to a hotel chain after his father passed away.
According to India Today, Khan revealed details in an interview, speaking about the assumptions that he inherited the Pataudi Palace from his father.
“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 that I want it back. They held a conference, and said, okay, you have to give us lots of money!” Khan said in the interview.
The ‘Jawaani Jaaneman’ star said that he had to earn back the palace he was supposed to have inherited.
“The house I’m supposed to have inherited has been earned back through 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,” he said.
Pataudi Palace was built 81 years ago, in 1935 by the eighth Nawab and the former cricket legend Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi Ali Hussain Siddiqui. It is said that the palace costs a whopping Rs8 billion. It has more than 150 rooms and 100 people working on site. Iftikhar’s son and Khan’s father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi had the palace renovated by an international architect.
The palace has several big grounds, stables and garages. After the renovation, Khan had shared a photograph of the palace.
