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Nawazuddin Siddiqui's three-storey mansion ‘Nawab' recreates his home in the village – has a personal gym, theatre, and a wall of fame. Watch

Nawazuddin Siddiqui's three-storey mansion ‘Nawab' recreates his home in the village – has a personal gym, theatre, and a wall of fame. Watch

Indian Express21-07-2025
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who used to share a room with 4-5 people in Mumbai's Goregaon during his initial phase of career, built his dream bungalow five years ago. The plush mansion, named 'Nawab' after his late father Nawabuddin Siddiqui, is located at Yari Road, Versova. It is a recreation of his childhood home back in his village Budhana, Uttar Pradesh. In a recent video, the actor gave a house tour of his three-storey luxury bungalow, which he designed himself.
He then started the tour with the living area that mostly had walls and furniture with muted colours like beige, white, and brown. When asked about the vibe he had in mind, he said, 'This was always the plan to keep it vintage. When we used to see houses in the olden times, during the colonial period, I wanted something like that. Whenever someone gifts a painting, I am not able to hang it on the wall because it doesn't match the colour family. Hence, I buy paintings according to the colour theme.' The only colourful element in the space was his bright red pool table. 'When there's free time, I play. More than me, my guests play here,' the actor added.
ALSO READ | Nawazuddin Siddiqui builds a mansion, names it after his father. See photos
The walls in the hall had many posters of scenes from famous plays and characters such as Hamlet, Romeo and Othello, which Nawazuddin has played during his theatre time at the National School Of Drama. 'All these posters are from plays, mostly Shakespeare (Macbeth, Merchant Of Venice, Hamlet). Meri chaahat thi ki main jab ghar mein ghusu toh NSD theatre ke time wala time yaad rahe. I should feel I am new, still learning. There aren't any film posters in my house,' he shared.
The 51-year-old said that his mansion has three floors – the first floor has a hall and theatre, the second floor has his makeup room, and on the third floor, there are some more rooms. The personal theatre room had beautiful brown sofas with a huge screen to watch films. The room also opened to a balcony, with lush greenery around. 'I have a hobby of flowers of different colours. The idea behind it was to have flowers and plants around,' he said. He also revealed that the balcony was designed keeping Romeo and Juliet's balcony in mind as an inspiration.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui also has his own makeup room, with wooden detailing in the floor, walls, and furniture. It looks like a green room, with bright lights all around the big mirror. Whenever he has to go for a shoot or any professional commitment, he ensures to get ready there. In the house-walk, he also flaunted his small home gym. He admitted, 'Main zyada gym waala hu nahi par bana diya maine bas yeh.' The hall area also had his daughter's London acting workshop distinction hanging on one of the walls. 'Paagal hai vo acting ke lie,' said the proud father.
The entire house' flooring, pillars, arches, and railings were like an old-school home, similar to his childhood property. The last area to showcase was the staircase which had a 'wall of fame' of his achievements – with all his awards and trophies in display. However, Nawazuddin mentioned that he doesn't believe in awards, but feels grateful to receive them.
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‘We fight over content and direction styles, it's a true partnership:' Rasika Agashe on collaborating with husband Zeeshan Ayyub, theatre, and life behind the scenes
‘We fight over content and direction styles, it's a true partnership:' Rasika Agashe on collaborating with husband Zeeshan Ayyub, theatre, and life behind the scenes

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‘We fight over content and direction styles, it's a true partnership:' Rasika Agashe on collaborating with husband Zeeshan Ayyub, theatre, and life behind the scenes

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Apart from this there was, and still is, another routine in place – of practising movement, breath, vocalisation, song and music derived from the vocabularies of Manipuri dance traditions, martial arts and ritual practices. This training happened in a cluster of buildings set amidst the landscape, that included an exhibition space, a rehearsal space, and a blackbox theatre equipped with light and sound systems. Away from the noise of the city, the Chorus Repertory as imagined by Ratan functions as a sort of ashram, where skill is transferred to the shishya – student – on a daily and continual basis, a mode of transmission different from the segmented time-tables of 'modern' theatre training institutes. 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From the dark upstage you might see a tall, white fabric umbrella, held firmly by an actor, float downstage, to form a halo ─ marking a passage to the heavens? The tumultuous clang and flash of hand-held gongs deafen and blind the spectators as the chakravyuh gains the velocity of a tornado in a circle of red beams. And who can forget the often-cited image of an elephant materialising on stage as if in a dream, in his memorable production of Agyeya's Uttarapriyadarshi! These are stage effects that cause the heart to pound. Almost nobody understood the magic of the image in theatre better than Ratan Thiyam. And almost nobody used the proscenium arch theatre, also known as the picture-frame stage, better than him. The picture-frame stage, brought to India by the British to house their theatricals, has given rise to much debate. The proscenium, as we know, is the architectural frame that edges the opening of the stage. 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