Mumbai: For every Shah Rukh Khan lover, his seaside-facing bungalow Mannat is almost a pilgrimage destination. And for all the interior designers, Bollywood buffs, and fans intrigued to know what it’s like behind those palatial walls and sturdy gates, Gauri Khan’s new coffee-table book My Life in Design offers a sneak peek. It talks about the Khan family’s idiosyncrasies too — SRK’s favourite room, Aryan’s architectural tastes, and what makes the Khans just like any other family.
Launched amid the sprawling glamour of Mumbai’s Taj Lands End on Monday, with audiences more eager to get a glimpse of Bollywood’s King Khan, the book charts Gauri’s journey from being cash-strapped when they bought Mannat to designing homes for Karan Johar, Katrina Kaif, Farah Khan, Siddharth Malhotra, and so on.
But it’s the foreword by her actor husband that’s “the most exciting”, Gauri says. And Shah Rukh, the icon of romance for women around the world, dressed in an open-collar white shirt and dapper black suit, was his most charming self at the launch — he talked about how Gauri’s style and understanding of space evolved over time and that some of her new designs set in the latest material now make him jealous.
Also read: Bollywood gets personal. Come live in SRK’s house after a horrendous 2020
Mannat the training ground
In the 88-page book published by Penguin Random House, Gauri recalls the lesser-known details of her career as an interior designer, her inspirations, and the nitty-gritty of balancing colour schemes, lighting, and textures.
“We as a family have seen Gauri go from strength to strength over the years as a designer. Her journey, though she keeps it very low-key, and understated, is inspiring for all of us. We see her put hours into doing what she loves, and she does it with a discipline that we all envy. It’s both shocking and endearing to see her awake late at night, working on her iPad to make a delivery on time,” SRK writes in the foreword.
The book also shares details about Gauri Khan’s first piece of work — her house in Delhi where her mother put her in charge of the renovations. It is what spurred her creative streak to work at Mannat, which she says was practically her training ground in interior design and one of her “most cherished experiences”.
It all started when SRK bought the mansion in 2001. “As soon as we earned some money, we thought we should buy this bungalow. It was a lot of money, and we had to rebuild it because it was kind of dilapidated and broken,” Khan said. “We called a designer, but the [cost of the] lunch that he served us [while] telling us how he would design the house was way more than the salary I used to earn in a month,” he added. So the task of doing up Mannat fell on his creative wife.
Gauri took hold of the reins and joined hands with her architect Kaif and his team. “This was a fantastic learning experience as he (Kaif) and his team were so technically sound. The execution was perfect, and just to be around them and understand how they planned it out so well inspired me to take up designing as a profession,” she writes in her book.
From the curios, furniture, artefacts, and lights to colour palettes, Gauri goes into excruciating detail about the art that has come to define her. She elaborates on SRK’s favourite place in the house—the library and study with a comfortable, yet serious ambience and an old-school vibe, where the actor spends most of his time when he’s home. Aryan’s room, though, is “equal parts serious and playful”, and the bungalow area where the family hosts parties and dinners. The book talks about the bungalow area as one filled with curios and artefacts, each with a story to tell.
“It is about my life in design. It is about me refurbishing my homes — the Delhi home, Mumbai home, offices of Red Chillies. It was very important to have Shah Rukh and the children to be a part of this book, a part of this journey,” Gauri said.
Gauri spoke about how every project has its own challenges, but if she were to pick the most challenging one, it would be the Red Chillies’ offices. “Shah Rukh is a tough one to crack,” she said.
A family on a dining table
Away from the world of glamour, though, is just a family meeting simple goals at the end of the day. When he is not away shooting, Shah Rukh sits down for dinner with his entire family. At the table, Gauri, and the children—Aryan, Suhana, and AbRam—talk about their day.
“Gauri says it was a satisfying day. And it is important because, for her, a satisfying day is a happy day,” Khan told the audience. And in a humbler tone, My Life in Design gives glimpses into what makes a day satisfying for the Khans — including the banters that are usual between a husband and wife. “I wish I could ask her to redesign my office or library all over again,” SRK writes in the foreword, “but she doesn’t have the time.”
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)