Saba Ali Khan Pataudi is an Indian jewelry designer and mutawalli (Chief Trustee) of the Auqaf-e-Shahi (Royal Trust), established by the-then ‘

Princely State A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

’ of the Kingdom of Bhopal as a royal charitable endowment.

Background

Khan, a member of the Pataudi family of Pashtun (Afghan) ancestry, is the daughter of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore, and the sister of actors, Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan. She is the granddaughter of

Sajida Begum Sajida Begum is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from August 2018 till January 2023. Political career She was elected to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab as a candidate of Pakistan Tehre ...

, the

Nawab Begum of Bhopal The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of Bhopal (state), Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India. The nawabs first ruled under the Mughal Empire from 1707 to 1737, under the Maratha Empire from 1737 to 1818, then under British Raj, Briti ...

, and

Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi Nawab Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Siddiqui Pataudi, sometimes I. A. K. Pataudi (16 March 1910 – 5 January 1952), was an Indian prince and cricket player. He was the captain of the India's national cricket team during its tour of England in 1 ...

, the Nawab of Pataudi. Her great-grandfather,

Hamidullah Khan Hajji Nawab Hafiz Sir Hamidullah Khan (9 September 1894 – 4 February 1960) was the last ruling Nawab of the princely salute state of Bhopal. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favor, until 19 ...

, succeeded the throne of Bhopal, after a long reign of royal queens. The actress

Sara Ali Khan Sara Ali Khan Pataudi (; born 12 August 1995) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Born into the Pataudi family, she is the daughter of actors Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan. After graduating with a degree in history and political sc ...

is her niece, and the actress Kareena Kapoor Khan is her sister-in-law. The titular Begum of Bhopal, Saleha Sultan, was her aunt, and through her she is the first cousin of cricketer,

Saad Bin Jung Saad Bin Jung (born 26 October 1960) is a former Indian cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1978 to 1984. He is now a conservationist and lives in his village of Mangala near Bandipur in Karnataka, India, whilst his children manage hi ...

. Major General of Pakistan Sher Ali Khan is her great-granduncle, and the diplomat Shahryar Khan is her uncle, through her grandaunt

Abida Sultan Princess Suraya Jah, Nawab Gowhar-i-Taj, Abida Sultan Begum Sahiba (28 August 1913 – 11 May 2002) was the eldest daughter of Hamidullah Khan, the last Nawab of the Bhopal state, and his wife Begum Maimoona Sultan. Life and family Sultan is ...

Auqaf-e-Shahi

The Auqaf-e-Shahi is a charitable trust that was endowed by the royal family of the Kingdom of the State of Bhopal. The trust manages a portfolio worth Rs 1200 crore, consisting mainly of real estate (both, religious and otherwise) in Bhopal, apart from properties in Mecca as well as Medina in Saudi Arabia. As a convention, a family member of the ruler of the state of Bhopal, or the ruler himself, was the mutawalli, the chief trustee who managed the assets of the trust for philanthropic purposes. Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan, who was the titular Nawab of Bhopal and Pataudi was the mutawalli till his death in 2011. Saba served under her father as naib mutawalli (Deputy Trustee) before taking over the reigns after his demise, while her brother Saif Ali Khan inherited the titular titles of the Nawab of Bhopal and Pataudi, and the respective estates. Mansoor Ali Khan reportedly did not think of his son as a possible mutawalli, conscious that a film actor's appointment as head of islamic religious bodies may not go down well with certain sections. In her tenure as the mutawalli, Auqaf-e-Shahi has acquired certain additional properties in Mecca. In 2016, she announced that the Waqf tribunal has declared that 34 acres of land around the Shahi Qabristan in Bhopal belonged to Auqaf-e-Shahi, and the same would be monetised with the proceeds going to improve the educational and health institutions of Bhopal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Saba Ali Jewellery designers Living people 1976 births Indian people of Pashtun descent