Out in the hills, just an hour’s drive from Mumbai, musical maestro Shankar Mahadevan has found his perfect escape, a holiday home nestled in nature’s lap, by a rushing stream, infused with warmth, sound, and spirit. More than just a getaway, this house is bold, and playful, much like Mahadevan’s own musical ethos, he said in a home tour video. Set in the countryside, the home is surrounded by lush greenery and animated by the soothing sounds of water. “Where do you get high ceilings like this in the city?” Mahadevan muses. “It was a fantasy my wife Sangeeta and I always had. whenever we build a holiday home, we need a hallroom which has got a high ceiling.” The result is a home flooded with light and air, featuring wide terraces that extend from the upper-floor bedrooms and manicured gardens at ground level. The home’s split-level structure makes it feel even more expansive, while gazebos and sitting areas along the stream offer peaceful places to unwind. Inside, the home is anything but shy. Vibrant colour, rich textures, and murals lend each room its own story. “We just said, 'Let's go all out. Let's have colours in our house,' because we are colourful people,” Shankar declares, and that attitude shows. Much like his approach to music, Mahadevan believes home design should be intuitive and fearless: “Playing with décor is much like playing with music: you can get it wrong, but that shouldn’t stop you from playing.” What makes this home more than a beautiful retreat is the life it holds. “We have a lot of seating over here, simply because we are people's people. There are people over all the time.” That deep sense of hospitality has been a lifelong habit. Reminiscing about his early days, Shankar shares on Asian Paints' Where The Heart Is, “I used to live in a 500 sq feet house in a small suburb called Chembur. We used to have music mehfils in the house, which used to start at 9 at night and go on till 7 in the morning. We had food, no place to sit, no place to stand. It was just the joy. those moments, we can never forget them.” Even now, in a more spacious home, that spirit hasn’t changed. “I don't think that the number of square feet equals the number of people coming into your home. If you have it in your mind, it can happen even in a small house or even in a big house like this.” For Mahadevan, the size of a home means little without the heart. As he puts it: “What’s the point of having a house if it doesn’t transform into a home?”
