IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
An aristocratic family that has saddled two national passions – cricket & films
Pataudi! It’s a name that cannot be confused with any other family or generation in India. And that’s a claim to fame, only a handful in this country can lay stake to. With royalty enmeshed with cricket and movies, the two arts that drive Indian fanaticism to the extreme, this family’s legacy is not only deeply embedded in India’s history, but also continues to define a sparkling existence in the present too.
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was indeed the second (after his father, Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, who also captained the Indian cricket team) but certainly the truest claimant to worldwide recognition that lives till date, within this quintessentially royal family. Tiger to friends, this prince was born on January 5, 1941, in Bhopal, to the eighth Nawab of Pataudi and his wife Sajida Sultan, who also was the daughter of the Nawab of Bhopal. After having been educated abroad for most of his life, he took to cricket. “We were allowed to pursue a career of our choice, so I took up cricket,” commented the Nawab to B&E. He went on to rewrite various cricketing records internationally. In 1969, it was his wedding to the then reigning queen of Bollywood, Sharmila Tagore (a distant relative of Rabindranath Tagore), that raised huge hue and cry. Three kids later – two of whom are subsequently walking their mother’s path into films – and the most compelling combination of a family tree that Indian nobles could have ever imagined, was complete!
“I was sent to hostel for studies because my parents did not want royalty to go to my head. During those times all the children of rich and affluent families were sent to boarding schools. However, now I do not agree with this concept.” The Nawab shared a rarely disclosed personal front with B&E. He was further emphatic even about Saif, “I also regret sending my son away during his early days of life.”
Quite credibly so, two of his children have attained national recognition through their own achievements rather than on the basis of their aristocratic lineage. Then, is there also a regret that his children did not get completely intertwined with the royal legacy? “I haven’t stopped my children from pursuing their own interests. I never thrust anything on them, but have always asked them to do well in whatever they choose to do.” As a celebration vindicating that, Saif Ali Khan (Chhote Nawab) made his mark in Bollywood as one of the top stars, and Soha also has recently emerged as an accomplished actress.
But how much pressure has there been on the second generation because of the first generation’s achievements? Soha divulged to B&E, “When I went to England and saw my father’s cricketing records there, I understood for the first time how good a cricket player he was. And now that I have started acting, I have understood what it takes to be a good actor, and how it must have been for my mother when she was just an actor and not a star. Within the family, we have always been taught how to keep our emotions inside and to not let them show. But for acting in films, one has to display all his or her emotions. And I had to break out of my previous mould for that.”
An un-ignorable part of their existence has been the media, which has particularly focused on not only the professional lives of the Pataudi family, but also has crossed the line at times in reporting on many personal fronts too. And the wonder of it is that this actually has not been the case with almost any other ‘royal’ family. Then why the spotlight on the Nawabs? The concurrence is clearly due to the achievements of Saif and Soha, gifted with character-inheritance, yet questioned scrupulously about their image day in and day out. Are the children then aware of these problems of image maintenance,? “Very conscious,” Soha exclaims, “I have to act very responsibly in public. Even in movies, I want to do the ‘right’ kind of films, which my grand children can see and be proud of. And I realise that what you do on screen is not temporary but keeps coming back again and again to haunt you. I will never do anything that I will find uncomfortable to do on screen because that is captured by the camera instantly.” Like we said, this is certainly a family whose legacy will continue to define a spectacular existence in many years to come. But for us, the lasting comment was surely the Nawab’s emotional statement, “I am doing my best to keep my people happy at Pataudi, for I still have to keep up my family’s legacy.” The act was complete. Royalty remained... still!
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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