Daily Times

Brick by brick, Nawazuddin Siddiqui constructed his own Taj Mahal in Mumbai. Gleaming white and custom-built, Nawaz is rightfully house proud. Nawaab, Nawaz’s home named after his father, has six bedrooms, two large halls, and two spacious lawns. On the first floor, Nawaz has a large space to grow trees. Nawaz loves greenery. He wants his home in Mumbai to remind me of my home in my village.

His voice beaming with pride and joy, Nawaz said, “I had an exact map of every inch of my dream house in my head, and I would not compromise on even an inch of that vision. If something was built wrongly during my absence, I broke it. There were many demolished walls before the house happened. I wanted every inch of the house to be the way I had designed it in my mind. I must thank my brother who helped me a lot. During my absence, he supervised the construction.” When I mentioned that people were comparing his home Nawaab with Shah Rukh Khan’s Mannat, Nawaz demurred, “There is no need to compare the two. That is his dream home. This is mine. Sabke sapne alag alag hote hain (to each his own dream). I’d like you to come to see my home. It is on Yari Road in Andheri.” And now, the same home has turned into a veritable horror castle, where his wife is fighting an ugly property battle with Nawaz’s mother.

The wife Aaliya, who has apparently been locked out of the bedrooms and other private areas in the sprawling palace allegedly by Nawaz’s mother, has made the living room sofas the temporary (?) home for herself and her children. Nawaz’s home Nawaab is swarming with cops and lawyers while he is nowhere to be traced, and rightly so. Whatever Nawaz says at the moment will be held against him. Whichever side he chooses, he will be seen as a traitor and a man who won’t own up to his responsibilities. So where is Nawaz? According to his friends, he has moved into a hotel for now. There he will remain until his lawyers sort out the mess at his home.