Villa Rashmi is a one-of-a-kind 100-year old heritage villa in Mumbai with over 50 rooms, located on a dead-end road in the heart of the suburb of Malad. The villa itself is a part of a larger Bhadran Bhuvan Estate that includes two plots on its North and South. The North plot of approx 10,000 square feet is integrated with the villa and its compound.

Villa Rashmi has been carefully restored to its original state as when it was built in 1920, with authentic Victorian antique furniture, high wooden sloping ceilings, spacious and bright rooms with heritage tiles, private balconies, large verandahs, courtyard et cetra, but fitted with modern amenities for today’s living.

The restoration has been lovingly carried out singlehandedly, without engaging any architect or interior designer, by the daughter of the owner, initially as a surprise for her parent’s golden wedding anniversary in 2017 and subsequently, for the use and enjoyment of the beautiful property and its conveniences by her father (who was born in this villa) and his friends.

The heritage villa has evinced interest from a lot of creative directors, artists, photographers etc over the years. They have appreciated the architecture and the ambience of the property.

Celebrity actors like Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Padmini Kolhapure, Rajkumar Rao, Kunal Khemu, Kay Kay Menon, Kalki Koechlin and many and directors like Mahesh Bhatt, Anurag Basu and others have spent many happy days shooting at the villa.

Over a hundred commercials, feature films, webseries and photoshoots have been created in Villa Rashmi in the last 2 years and it has become a popular destination for shootings because of the warm graciousness of the host family and the facilities that they provide.

The owner permits only selected exclusive shoots in certain areas by production houses who undertake not to cause any damage. The areas permitted for shooting are the exteriors, frontyard and backyard, certain interior rooms on the first level and second level, that have been prepared for shoots, and the verandahs. All shooting areas would be available without or with limited props, as decided by the owner.

The owner, Haresh Patel, was born in this historical house, that was built by his father, Manibhai Patel in 1912, for use as a private guest house.

Manibhai Patel, a grassroot Patel, hailed from Bhadran, one of the 6 villages in the Kheda district and Charotar region of central/ southern Gujarat. The other 5 villages are Nadiad, Sojitra, Dharmaj, Vaso and Karamsad. This community comprising land-owners or village chieftains who established these 6 villages, were Aryans, Kshatriyas who migrated from Pamir Highlands in Central Asia (Tajikistan) via Afghanistan to Punjab and then to central and south Gujarat. Known to be bold, brazen bravehearts, this particular chha-gaam Patidar community is unlike any other in Gujarat because of this background.

Some of the illustrious members of the community include:

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first deputy Prime Minister | I G Patel, former RBI governor | Bhaikaka Patel, the founder of Vallabh Vidyanagar
Dr Dinesh Patel, a professor at Harvard Medical School | Kanti Patel, an MP of Zimbabwe | V V Patel, a judge in Kenya.

Bhadran is in the Anand district. Bhadran was nicknamed the “Paris of Gaekwad state” due to its prosperity and civil works carried out by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the visionary ruler of Baroda. Today Bhadran is considered to be one of the cleanest towns in the nation.