MUMBAI: Saif Ali Khan, who is known for films like Baazaar, Cocktail and Omkara, spoke about how he earned back his palace, Pataudi Palace.

The actor, who is a Prince of Pataudi and a rightful heir to the throne, told Mid-Day, “People have a certain fixed notion. For that matter, even [with] Pataudi [palace], when my father [Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi] 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.”

He added, “So, even 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.”

Speaking about his childhood, the actor said, “I was born and raised in Bombay. My father lived with my mother in her [Carmichael Road] flat... He had just finished playing cricket. His last Test series was when I was four/five. My mother [actor Sharmila Tagore] says he was bunking his responsibilities. His mother was looking after things in Bhopal and Pataudi. She’d got old. So we moved to Delhi to live with her.”

The actor was ceremonially crowned as the Nawab of Pataudi back in 2011 after the death of his father.