Saif Ali Khan is one of the few Indian celebrities who actually owns a palace. Known as Pataudi Palace or Ibrahim Kothi, this royal home in Haryana is where Saif, his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan, and their sons Taimur and Jeh spend their winters every year. The property is currently valued at around Rs 800 crore. For the unversed, the Pataudis are not merely a former princely family from Haryana; they are an extraordinary fusion of Afghan martial ancestry, British-era political negotiation, Bhopal royalty, Mughal-inspired domestic traditions, and a dash of unabashed glamour. And at the centre of their world stands Pataudi Palace - a gleaming white neoclassical structure that has seen queens, cricket prodigies, film superstars, and an entire country’s
gaze.
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A Palace Built On Love And Legacy
Pataudi Palace is located in the town of Pataudi, which is about 25 kilometres from Gurugram in Haryana. It was built in 1935 by Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, Saif's grandfather, who was also a well-known cricketer and captained the Indian cricket team. The story goes that after he married the Begum of Bhopal, he felt his family home was too modest for his new wife, so he commissioned British architect Robert Tor Russell to design a grand new residence. Russell was a respected name in colonial architecture and had earlier designed parts of Delhi's Connaught Place.
Spread across 10 acres, the palace has approximately 150 rooms. This includes seven bedrooms, seven dressing rooms, seven billiard rooms, along with large drawing and dining rooms, durbar halls, libraries, and guest quarters. The layout follows an old-style hierarchy, with public spaces on the lower floors and private family areas above. Inside, visitors can see high ceilings, classical columns, polished stone floors, fireplaces, wooden staircases, and long corridors that give the place a British country-house feel, mixed with Indian motifs and artwork.
The main hallway is full of portraits of family ancestors, and the property also features a chessboard-tiled verandah and a statue of a roaring tiger. The dining room has a large table, big glass windows, and a grand chandelier. There is also a colonial-style study room and wide lawns used for horse riding and family events. Taimur's first birthday was celebrated on these grounds.
How Saif Ali Khan "Earned Back" His Own Home
After India's independence, keeping up such a large property became difficult for royal families across the country. Following the death of Saif's father, cricketer Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the palace was rented out to the Neemrana Hotels group and functioned as a heritage hotel from 2005 to 2014. Saif has time and again spoken about how he had to buy his own family home back rather than simply inherit it. In an interview with Mid-Day, he explained that when he asked the hotel operators for the palace back, they told him he would have to pay a large sum for it. He said the money came from his film career, adding, "You can't live off the past. At least we can't in our family, because there was nothing."
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A Favourite Film Location
Beyond being a family home, Pataudi Palace has also become a popular shooting location for filmmakers. Movies like Veer-Zaara, Rang De Basanti, Mangal Pandey, Gandhi: My Father, and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan have all been filmed there. Even Hollywood came calling, with Julia Roberts' Eat Pray Love's shooting scenes being shot at the property.
Today, the palace remains the winter residence of the Pataudi family. Saif's mother, veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, and his sister Saba Ali Khan live there, while Saif's sister Soha Ali Khan, her husband Kunal Kemmu, and their daughter Inaaya also visit from time to time. Saif's children from his first marriage, Sara and Ibrahim, are known to spend time at the palace as well.
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