MUMBAI: Bollywood star and only son of acting legend Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan has grabbed the headlines by parking an enormous sum of Rs. 41.14 crore in a luxury apartment in the prime Annie Besant Road area of Worli, Mumbai. With his high-value investment, the Junior Bachchan has joined the big league of b-town stars to pick real estate over the stock market as a safer bet.
According to TOI, the five-bedroom house that the actor has chosen includes a family room, dining and living rooms, wet and dry kitchens and 20 feet terraces on all sides. This is reportedly one of the few projects in the city where authorities have sanctioned such unusually large terraces. The price works out to Rs 1.06 lakh a sq ft for the 3,875 sq ft flat for the apartment on the 37th floor of Skylark Towers. The stamp duty amount for Abhishek’s apartment itself apparently works out to Rs 2.05 crore. A separate club house membership fee of Rs 25 lakh and development charges of Rs 35 lakh are also part of the sale agreement.
The building comprises two wings, each 67 floors high constructed by Oasis Realty, a joint venture between developer Vikas Oberoi and dance bar owner-turned-realtor Sudhakar Shetty.
A building industry source said film personalities prefer to pay by cheque. There is no cash component at all, unlike the earlier days, he said.
Property market and film industry sources said film celebrities invest in residential and commercial projects or buy sprawling penthouses, row houses and bungalows for personal use. The preferred locations are in the suburbs between Bandra and Andheri.
Other Bollywood actors like actor Hrithik Roshan and his father Rakesh, are also believed to be big investors in property. Last year, they pumped in Rs 70 crore to develop a plot off Andheri Link Road. The 3,000 sq m plot near Infiniti mall will be used to build a 26-storey high-end residential tower in a joint venture with a local developer.
About a year ago, Hrithik moved into a 3,600 sq ft apartment in Prime Beach building near the Hare Krishna temple at Juhu. He has taken the flat on leave and licence and is paying a monthly rent of Rs 6.5 lakh. Akshay Kumar also has a flat in Prime Beach.
In July last, actor Shahid Kapoor is reported to have paid Rs 30 crore for a sprawling apartment with a garden in Pranita building on Juhu Tara Road. Actor Vidya Balan too has a flat in this building, reportedly purchased for a similar amount.
Actor Emran Hashmi is believed to have shelled out Rs 15 crore for an apartment on Pali Hill a year ago. Saif Ali Khan and wife Kareena bought a penthouse for Rs 23.50 crore in Satguru Sharan building in Khar (West) two years ago.
John Abraham who owns two buildings in Bandra and Khar and a plot opposite Petit Girls High School at Union Park, purchased for Rs 22 crore in mid-2009 had said in a 2011 interview, I am very passionate about land. It is better than investing in the stock market. Even if there is a correction in land prices, the maximum it goes down is by about 20-30%.
Some stars are also believed to have pumped money into slum rehabilitation projects in the western suburbs.
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