Pataudi to be home again

After his father Mansoor Ali Khan’s demise, Saif has had to take over the responsibilities of maintaining the family home, Pataudi Palace.

Mansoor had rented out a part of it to the Neemrana group, who had converted it into a luxury hotel. Unhappy with the way it had been maintained, Saif has now ended the lease with the hotel and taken charge of the palace once again. He also wants to renovate it.

Talking about it, Saif said, “It has always been a home never an opulent palace. It’s like a big house you can say. When it was rented out to Neemrana, they ruined it.

It was horrible and things were in a terrible state. So it had to be fixed. I won’t give it back to Neemrana, however. It’s a home and will stay that way.”

The palace in the past was also rented out for multiple film shoots, one of the famous ones being the song Main Yahan Hoon from Veer-Zaara featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta.

So people from outside can no more walk into the palace? Saif says, “I don’t know. I am still thinking about that. I don’t think it should be re-opened to the public, because it’s not a heritage place.

It’s always been our home, so let’s see. Maybe we will have a section where we will put up all the cricket pictures of my father. So maybe people can come and see a part of it when we are not there. We will decide that later. Right now I only want to get done with the renovation.”

Pataudi Palace is also called Ibrahim Kothi and was designed in a picturesque style of colonial mansions. The wedding reception of Saif and Kareena took place at Pataudi Palace on October 18, 2012.

In 2011, Saif was crowned the 10th Nawab of Pataudi at a ceremony in his ancestral palace.

The Pataudi palace, part of which was turned into a luxury hotel by Neemrana