When the Phone Rang After Midnight: The Story Behind Big B's Ayodhya Land Deals

There are business deals, and then there are the kind of deals that begin with a phone call well past midnight. Abhinandan Lodha, chairman of The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL), has publicly recalled a moment that stands out even in his eventful career as one of India's most aggressive land developers. The call came from Amitabh Bachchan, and it was not to chat. Big B wanted land in Ayodhya, and he wanted to talk specifics right then.

What Lodha recounts is not a story of corporate presentations or formal site visits. It was a direct, purposeful conversation where one of India's most recognised personalities made clear his interest in acquiring a 15,000 sq ft land parcel in Ayodhya. That conversation eventually led to a deal worth approximately ₹15 crore, marking what would be the beginning of a much longer association between Bachchan and HoABL in the temple city.

The anecdote matters because it tells you something real about how high-profile Ayodhya land deals actually happen. This was not a publicist calling a broker. This was Bachchan himself, personally engaged, making a late-night inquiry about a city he has described as holding deep emotional meaning for him.

The House of Abhinandan Lodha is a Mumbai-headquartered real estate firm that Lodha founded in 2020. It operates entirely through digital transactions, which is unusual in a sector still dominated by physical site visits and paperwork. The company focuses exclusively on plotted land development and has built a substantial portfolio across 16 locations in India. By recent counts, HoABL has sold over 13 million square feet of land with another 34 million square feet in the pipeline across states like Maharashtra, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

The project at the centre of all this celebrity interest is The Sarayu, a 51-acre luxury mixed-use development in Ayodhya that HoABL has positioned as a seven-star enclave. It sits roughly 15 minutes from the Ram Mandir and about half an hour from the upcoming international airport. The project launched officially in January 2024, timed to coincide with the consecration ceremony of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple.

What began with that celebrity real estate phone call has turned into a pattern of steady commitment. In 2024, Bachchan purchased a 10,000 sq ft plot within The Sarayu project for around ₹14.5 crore. A year later, he expanded significantly by picking up a 25,000 sq ft land parcel near the same development for close to ₹40 crore. Then came his most substantial move yet: a 2.67-acre acquisition worth approximately ₹35 crore, making this his third separate investment in Ayodhya and his fourth plotted land deal with HoABL overall.

The answer is less about sentiment and more about trajectory. Land values in key pockets around the Ram Mandir corridor and the Sarayu riverfront multiplied more than four and a half times between 2020 and 2025. That kind of appreciation does not go unnoticed. Lodha himself has spoken about land as something that holds and transmits value across generations, describing the city as a meeting point of faith and financial legacy. That framing resonates particularly well in a market where buyers are not just looking for returns but also for meaning in what they own.

By late 2024, HoABL had committed another ₹3,000 crore for land acquisitions in cities including Amritsar, Nagpur, Varanasi, Shimla, Vrindavan and areas near Mumbai. The firm also entered vertical housing through its Growth Housing initiative, partnering on a residential project in Naigaon with Mittal Builders. And in a notable acquisition that surprised many, HoABL purchased the historic American Center property on Marine Lines in Mumbai for ₹56 crore.

Ayodhya property investment is no longer a niche conversation. When someone like Bachchan calls personally after midnight to lock a land parcel, and when that becomes the first of four transactions with the same developer, it signals something the numbers alone cannot fully capture. Buyer sentiment has shifted. Ayodhya land prices are rising and the city is pulling in capital from investors who think in decades, not quarters.

The story of Amitabh Bachchan's Ayodhya investment journey with Abhinandan Lodha reads as a case study in how Indian real estate is changing. Faith-driven cities are becoming financially credible destinations. HoABL's Sarayu project Ayodhya sits at the intersection of heritage and modern luxury. And that late-night call? It turned out to be the first chapter of a celebrity real estate relationship worth well over ₹100 crore across multiple Ayodhya land deals, with little sign of stopping.