Shekhar Suman says he is just a tenant in his own home: What his unusual take on ownership reveals about detachment, wealth and the meaning of home
Imagine walking into a home with carved archways, crystal chandeliers, antique furniture and balconies overlooking the sea. It is the kind of house many people spend years dreaming of owning. Now imagine its owner standing in the middle of it and saying he is only a tenant there.That is the striking thought Shekhar Suman offered during a home tour with content creator Priyam Saraswat. In a home that reflects decades of work, ambition and carefully collected objects, the actor expressed a belief that challenges the way people usually think about wealth: “I’m just a tenant here. The House belongs to God.”It is an unusual statement to make in a culture where buying a home is often treated as a defining milestone of success. But Suman’s words invite a more interesting question than whether a celebrity is being philosophical. What does it mean to own a house if you do not believe you are its ultimate owner?
A four-storey home that tells the story of ambition
Suman’s Mumbai residence is hardly an example of minimalism. The four-storey, sea-facing penthouse in Lokhandwala draws on Victorian and European design, with ornate furniture, decorative mirrors, chandeliers, floral details and antiques collected during travels. The house reflects the tastes of Suman and his wife, Alka, who has a keen interest in design.During a separate home tour with filmmaker Farah Khan, Suman spoke about their shared attraction to English architecture and the influence of Alka’s taste on the interiors. An antique chess table bought in New York was among the objects that carried a story of its own. Farah was so impressed by the property that she compared its atmosphere to being in London.In another tour, reported by The Indian Express, Suman described the home as the result of years of work and recalled arriving in Mumbai with little more than a broken bike. The house, then, is not simply an expensive backdrop. It represents a journey from modest beginnings to a life in which he could build the surroundings he once imagined.That makes his comment about being a tenant all the more intriguing. He is not dismissing the home or pretending it has no value. He has spoken about the work and choices that went into creating it. His statement appears to place that achievement within a larger spiritual perspective: having something and believing it belongs to you forever are not necessarily the same thing.
What psychology says about our attachment to possessions
A home is rarely just a building. People fill it with family photographs, furniture, heirlooms, souvenirs and objects that mark important moments in their lives.Research published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology in 2016 examined the idea of “psychological home”, the feeling that a place is personally meaningful and connected to one’s sense of self. The study found that attachment to a place and possessions that express identity can contribute positively to this feeling. It also found that excessive clutter can undermine the experience of home and affect perceived well-being.The lesson is not that people should stop collecting things or that a large home is somehow less meaningful than a small one. Rather, the relationship matters.A separate meta-analysis published in Personality and Social Psychology Review examined 259 independent samples and found an association between stronger materialistic values and lower personal well-being. The researchers did not conclude that owning expensive things automatically makes people unhappy.
A reminder that success is not the same as possession
Suman’s remark is striking precisely because it comes from someone whose home reflects professional success and years of effort. He is not speaking from an empty room or dismissing the practical value of having a roof over one’s head. His home tour shows that he and Alka have invested considerable thought in building a space that reflects their tastes and experiences.Yet his words shift attention away from the objects themselves and towards the attitude behind them. A house can be a source of pride without becoming the only proof of achievement. A beautiful interior can bring pleasure without turning into a measure of personal worth. And owning something does not necessarily mean treating it as the most important thing in one’s life.Perhaps that is the more enduring idea behind Suman’s description of himself as a tenant. The home may be his to live in, care for and enjoy, but he chooses to see it as part of something larger than himself.In the end, the most revealing detail in his home tour may not be the chandelier, the antiques or the view. It is the fact that, standing inside a home many people would consider the ultimate symbol of success, he chose to talk about not owning it in the deepest sense.Because a house can tell the story of what a person has achieved. The way they think about it may reveal what they believe matters most.
