Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan invest over Rs 10 cr each in friend’s real estate firm; Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn join in

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Recently, Anand Pandit spoke about his real-estate firm in a chat with SCREEN and cited Amitabh Bachchan’s film Trishul as an early inspiration. “I have grown up watching Amitabh Bachchan’s films. His film, Trishul, really inspired me and motivated me to leave Ahmedabad and move to Mumbai. And I also wanted to have my own Shanti Construction Company, and fortunately today I have made Lotus Developers. His character Vijay inspired me to be where I am today. It is all because of Bachchan sahab,” he said.

He also shared that he eventually bought the property next to Big B’s house, Jalsa, for Rs 50 crore in 2013, and when the star wanted to expand his property, he sold it to him. “I was an ardent fan who had grown up watching his films and a twist of fate then made me his neighbour when I bought a bungalow next to his. I eventually ended up selling it back to him and that is when we grew closer,” he said.

At Anand’s birthday party recently, Shah Rukh joked that the businessperson owns a vast chunk of Mumbai. “In the night, at 12-1 am, he comes visits me and we roam around Juhu. He doesn’t tell me, ‘This is my building, that is my building.’ Instead, in the two-kilometre drive, he tells me barring two to three buildings, all buildings are his. Our journey becomes easy,” Shah Rukh said.