A haunted, sea-facing Mumbai villa that was home to two Bollywood superstars

The Mumbai skyline

The home of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan at Bandra, Mumbai, is a tourist attraction today. His sea-facing house, Mannat, is almost a household name. But there is another house which is also sea-facing, and in Bandra that has been the residence of two previous superstars ― first, for Rajendra Kumar, and then, for Rajesh Khanna.

Rajendra Kumar began his career in 1955 with a graph that was on the upswing. As a product of the 1947 Partition that resulted in his wealthy family losing its assets, the actor was conservative in his expenses. But when it came to purchasing a house in the late 1950s, he went all-in.

There was a willing seller for a villa on Carter Road ― a street where today’s actors Aamir Khan and Tiger Shroff have stayed on rent. Around 60 years ago the street was far from glamorous. The house was worse off, and rumoured to be haunted. Was it really haunted? In the book Jubilee Kumar:

The Life and Times of a Superstar, author Seema Sonik Alimchand points to an anecdote that suggests the rumour of it being haunted was a manufactured story. Who manufactured the story? Seemingly, by the tenant living in the same house. The book notes a real-estate broker telling Kumar that “apparently, this gentleman (tenant) hasn’t paid the rent for months. Now that the landlord has given him an ultimatum, he’s probably spreading rumours to drive off prospective buyers and tenants. Otherwise, why would he continue to live in a haunted house.”

The seller wanted Rs 75,000. He then reduced it to Rs 65,000. For Kumar, that was still too much. He only had Rs 10,000 with him. Then through a deal with director BR Chopra for two movies, he raised the rest of the money and scooped up the bungalow. He named the house ‘Dimple’. Fortunes changed dramatically for Rajendra Kumar after purchasing this Carter Road villa. From an actor he became a star with numerous blockbuster films in his armour. The 1960s was Rajendra Kumar’s decade.

Coming up right behind him was an emerging actor, Rajesh Khanna. He wanted Rajendra Kumar’s residence as he believed it would bring him good luck. Khanna charmed Kumar by saying “Imagine, my life would change completely if I acquired your residence. It’s the house of the biggest star of India, after all. Your stardom is at its peak whereas I am just starting out.”

It is hard to understand, but the charm offensive worked and Kumar sold his prized bungalow to Khanna for a price considered substantially below market price. Khanna would call his new home ‘Aashirwad.’ Bagging that house would be a turning point for Rajesh Khanna. Like Rajendra Kumar, Khanna too, moved up from being an actor to a star and very quickly became India’s first superstar. He became the highest paid actor in the 1970s and early 1980s. The gate of his home attracted audiences in a manner similar to Shah Rukh Khan’s residence today.

The house was lucky. But like with all professions, but more visible in industries like entertainment, luck would run out. The superstar would be humbled with successive flops. Buzzing crowds outside his home had moved elsewhere (Amitabh Bachchan). Khanna went into a shell and eventually lived a lonely life in the bungalow that he had scooped up from Rajendra Kumar. In 2012, he passed away due to cancer. The bungalow was supposedly going to be converted into a museum, but the family changed their mind.

In 2014, the house was sold to a promoter of a logistics firm with the involvement of Khanna’s son-in-law and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. Reportedly he discussed the sale for a mere 10 minutes and closed the deal at Rs 90 crore. The bungalow would be demolished and replaced with a tower.

Careers are built, demolished and then rarely rebuilt. Houses, however, are built, demolished and often re-built. At the intersection, the stories of careers are best told by their houses. And there are few stories as compelling as of this one sea-facing residence at Bandra, Mumbai.