Inside Saif Ali Khan’s Rs 800 Crore Pataudi Palace

Bollywood is full of impressive addresses, but few can match Pataudi Palace. Saif Ali Khan’s ancestral home sits on 10 acres, roughly 30 kilometres from Gurugram, and carries nearly a century of royal history. Built in 1935, it was commissioned by the last ruling Nawab of Pataudi, Iftikhar Ali Khan, for his wife.

A palace that almost stayed a hotel

For a stretch of the 2000s, the property wasn’t run by the family at all. Reports say it was leased to the Neemrana Hotels group in 2005. After the death of his father, Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Saif Ali Khan moved to reclaim the palace, reportedly for Rs 800 crore.

That detail matters to fans because it reframes the home: Pataudi Palace is not just a backdrop in a star’s life but a piece of the Pataudi line that Saif chose to bring back under family control.

Nearly 150 rooms of heritage

Architectural Digest describes the sprawling residence as having close to 150 rooms. The list is not ordinary:

• Seven bedrooms, seven dressing rooms and seven billiard rooms
• Expansive dining and drawing rooms
• Long corridors with black-and-white chequered marble flooring
• A vintage library Saif recently showed on Instagram

The architecture is credited to Robert Tor Russell, who gave the palace a European neoclassical feel through clean lines and geometric patterns. Interiors keep Indian heritage alive with floral motifs and framed family photographs.

A blend of European and Indian design

The details are distinctive. High-ceilinged verandas, parquet flooring and pink Venetian chandeliers add European grandeur. A dome inspired by the Sanchi Stupa brings an Indian landmark into the skyline. Walls are painted in soft yellow, white, cream and pastel shades, while potted plants add warmth.

Bedrooms combine wooden flooring, antique decor and handcrafted furniture. The dining area features crystal chandeliers, decorative lamps and vases. It all makes Pataudi Palace a rare synthesis of two design worlds.

Why it matters for Hindi film fans

This isn’t just a celebrity home tour. Pataudi Palace connects Bollywood’s present to a princely past: Saif’s father was Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and the palace was commissioned by the last ruling nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan. Seeing how the interiors mix European lines with Indian motifs is a reminder of the world that shaped one of Hindi cinema’s enduring families.

More than a house, Pataudi Palace is a kind of family portrait in architecture. The neoclassical bones and Indian details carry the same double identity that fans recognise in Saif Ali Khan’s public life: old-world royalty meeting contemporary Bollywood.

For fans, the palace is also a reminder that some Bollywood legacies are literally built in stone.

Source: The Times of India