The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has taken over the ownership of Kapoor Haveli and Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar’s house — the ancestral houses of the Bollywood legends — in Peshawar.
The ownership of these ancestral buildings has been transferred to the Department of Archaeology. The objections raised over the transfer of these properties to the government were rejected by Peshawar’s deputy commissioner.
Last month, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had initiated the process to take formal custody of the ancestral houses of legendary Bollywood actors located in the heart of this city to convert them into museums.
The government had fixed the price for the purchase of Kapoor Haveli — a residence of 6.25-marla — and Kumar’s four-marla house at Rs 1.50 crore and Rs 80 lakh, respectively.
The owners of these properties had expressed reservations over the price set by the government; however, their concerns were rejected.
According to an Indian outlet, Kapoor Haveli’s owner Ali Qadir had demanded Rs20 crore, while Gul Rehman Mohmand, who owns Kumar’s house, had asked for it to be purchased at the market rate of Rs3.50 crore. However, according to the government estimates, the price of Kumar’s house was fixed at Rs80 lakh, while Kapoor’s house was estimated at Rs1.5 crore.
Dillip Kumar’s house had already been declared a national heritage by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2014.
Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar migrated to India, when it was still under British rule. They were born and raised in Peshawar’s centuries old Qissa Khwani Bazaar, before moving to Mumbai where they became the Indian film industry’s most pronounced stars.
Their houses stand side by side in Peshawar, with just a few metres in between. Today, their hollow, vacant structures act as concrete reminders of the pair who captivated not just India but also Pakistan.
