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Undid edits by Katherinejdoug (talk) to last revision by Citation bot: using Wikipedia for advertising/promotion

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{{Infobox building
| name = Ravla Khempur
| native_name =
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| image = Ravla Khempur 1.jpg
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| caption = December, 2018.
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| address = [[Khempur]], [[Mavli]], [[Rajasthan]], 313203
| location_town = [[Khempur]]
| location_country = India
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| rooms = 12
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| website = http://www.ravlakhempur.com/
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'''Ravla Khempur''' is a [[haveli]] and heritage hotel in [[Khempur]] in the Indian state of [[Rajasthan]]. It was built in the 1620s and became known as [[The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel]] after being used as the [[filming location]] for the 2011 film's hotel and its 2015 sequel, [[The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel]]. The hotel is surrounded by a [[Marwari horse]] [[Stud farm|breeding stable]] and [[paddock]]s and caters to horse lovers.

==History==
The 17th century rural hotel is located in the village of Khempur, in the [[Mewar]] region of Rajasthan, about 50 kilometers from [[Udaipur]],<ref name="marigold">{{cite web|last=MacDonald|first=Claire|title=Ravla Khempur, Udaipur, India: scene of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/travel/ravla-khempur-udaipur-india-scene-of-the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel/news-story/5894269ea107047b8216dc8c676d0f05|date=September 3, 2016|work=[[The Australian]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Fowler|first=Laura|title=THE BEST EXOTIC PLACES IN INDIA|url=https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/best-exotic-marigold-hotel-jaipur-and-udaipur|date=February 24, 2012|work=[[Condé Nast Traveller]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> and 9 kilometers south of the village's township, [[Mavli]].<ref name="heritage"/><ref name="guide">{{cite web|last=Goyal|first= Ashutosh|title=RBS Visitors Guide India - Rajasthan: Rajasthan Travel guide - Khempur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8TDCgAAQBAJ&q=marwari+horse+khempur&pg=PT454|date=January 31, 2016|work=[[Google Books]]/Data & Expo India Pvt. Ltd|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> In Rajasthan the term 'Ravla' refers to the home of a village chieftain, historically the social, political and religious focal point.<ref name="heritage">{{cite web|title=Ravla Khempur|url=https://www.heritagehotelsofindia.com/rajasthan/ravla-khempur.html|date=December 30, 2018|work=Heritage Hotels of India|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> The hotel was the original haveli of a chieftain, Khemraj Dadhivadia, before being converted into a hotel, and is entrenched in Mewari history.<ref name="heritage"/><ref name="guide"/> The chieftain received the [[jagir]] or land grant after killing two assassins and saving the life of [[Jagat Singh II]], who became the [[Rana (title)|Rana]] of Udaipur and built the [[Lake Palace|Taj Lake Palace]].<ref name="outlook">{{cite web|last=Overdorf|first=Jason|title=Noble Horse|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/48540/noble-horse|date=January 1, 2007|work=Outlook Traveller|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> In the same century, the hotel and village were plundered by neighboring raiders.<ref name="marigold"/>

Around 1997, local villagers encouraged the hotel's owner and descendant of the chieftain's [[Nobility|noble family]], Hemant Singh Deval, who was residing in Udaipur, to return as head of the original jagir of Ravla Khempur, as [[sarpanch]] for Khempur.<ref name="outlook"/><ref name="noble">{{cite web|last=Plush|first=Hazel|title=Photo gallery: Step inside the REAL Best Exotic Marigold Hotel|url=https://www.womanandhome.com/travel/real-best-exotic-marigold-hotel-india-ravla-khempur-271696/|date=May 1, 2018|work=[[Woman & Home]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> The hotel has a great influence on the villagers and they are friendly with hotel guests who visit the village, and offer tea and hospitality.<ref name="horses">{{cite web|last=Da Silva|first=Paula|title=The Striking Beauty- and Ears- of the Marwari Horse, UnTacked Dec. 2016, Jan. 2017, pages 48-57|url=https://issuu.com/horseridingclubstable/docs/untacked_december2016-january2017|work=[[issuu]]/UnTacked|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref>
[[File:Ravla Khempur 11 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Stallion "Great Gambler" in dining room window. 2018]]
===Equestrian hotel===
On his return as a country gentleman, Deval spent his time as the hotel's host and becoming a noted [[Equestrianism|equestrian]].<ref name="marigold"/> The hotel is surrounded by idyllic farmland of [[Mustard seed|sarson]] and [[Sorghum bicolor|jowari]] fields, with a climate not as dry as the [[Thar Desert]], to the north of it. The horse stables, with arched openings, distinguish it from other havelis, with stalls that once housed the horses of travellers to the hotel, but now house the Marwari mares and stallions owned by Deval. He became a [[horse breeding|horse breeder]] after returning to Khempur, involved with rebuilding the Marwari dwindling population.<ref name="outlook"/> The Marwari, named after their original breeding place in Marwar, are most notable for their distinctive curved ear tips that point towards, and nearly touch each other, as well as a high-set neck that gives them an alert look, and a four-beat [[gait]].<ref name="horses"/>

Deval also honored the horse by adding many horse paintings, photographs, and furnishings, such as a glass-topped table with wooden horse supports, and coat hooks in the shape of horses heads. He said he bought his first Marwari in 1990 for 8000 rupees and proceeded to educate himself as he bred, sold and exchanged horses over the years.<ref name="outlook"/> In 2012, he performed on one of the Marwari horses, that were sent from outside India, in the [[Diamond Jubilee Pageant]],<ref name="krishna">{{cite web|last=Bealby|first=Jonny|title=The 'Real' Best Exotic Hotel|url=https://www.wildfrontiers.tv/the-real-best-exotic-hotel/|date=November 24, 2017|work=Wild Frontiers TV|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Talukdar|first=Rakhee Roy|title=Monsieur Marwari, NRI on UK duty - if Babus won't permit others, send dilraj from france|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/monsieur-marwari-nri-on-uk-duty-if-babus-wont-permit-others-send-dilraj-from-france/cid/420594|date=May 1, 2012|work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> and is currently the Joint Secretary of the Indigenous Horse Society of India.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|title=Indigenous Horse Society of India - Our Profile|url=https://horseindian.com/profile.htm|date=December 30, 2018|work=Indigenous Horse Society of India|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> His two sons, Shantanu Singh Khempur and Rohitashva Singh Khempur, are also equestrians.<ref name="horses"/>

The farm's main [[Stud (animal)|stud]], Great Gambler, is a prize winning stallion whose stall adjoins the hotel's restaurant, where he can observe, and be observed by, guests as they dine.<ref name="horses"/><ref>{{cite web|last=UdaipurTimes Team|title=Marwari Horses from Mewar's Stud Farms steal the Show|url=https://udaipurtimes.com/marwari-horses-from-mewars-stud-farms-steal-the-show-2/|date=April 7, 2013|work=UdaipurTimes.com|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref>

===Guest facilities===
The twelve bedroom guesthouse is a grandiose two-storey building with "huge archways", "ornate carvings", "frilly balconies", and "sweeping courtyards", with a deliberate aging of the exterior "[[monsoon]]-blackened" walls that show the centuries.<ref name="marigold"/><ref name="outlook"/> The second floor "roof" bedrooms have a courtyard in the center.<ref name="noble"/>

In 2016, hotel renovations were completed and included a swimming pool and an equestrian-themed restaurant that serves Mewari cuisine.<ref name="marigold"/><ref name="guide"/>

==Filming location==
[[File:Ravla Khempur 4 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Krishna temple, front of hotel, used for Sonny and Sunaina's wedding. 2018]]
In 2010, filming took place for the first "Marigold" film with actors [[Judi Dench]], [[Maggie Smith]], [[Bill Nighy]], [[Tom Wilkinson]], [[Penelope Wilton]], [[Celia Imrie]] and [[Ronald Pickup]], along with [[Dev Patel]]. In 2014, they returned for the sequel with [[Richard Gere]]. Set designers transformed the hotel to fit the film, and included an adjacent Hindu [[Krishna]] temple for characters "Sonny" and "Sunaina's" [[Bollywood]]-style wedding in the second film.<ref name="marigold"/><ref name="krishna"/>

One set piece that remained is the marigold carving which hangs over the main entrance courtyard, where Maggie Smith "held court" in the films.<ref name="noble"/>

Director [[John Madden]] said "the character of that hotel needed to have gone downhill, but nevertheless be aspiring to a former glory, and that’s a fairly good description of the way the place is now. It needed to have a magic about it, some sense of it being a refuge or a place where the seven characters wouldn’t immediately leave and try to seek alternative accommodation. It’s a very cinematic space because it has multiple levels and rooms that defy any kind of modern western concept of what a room would be."
<ref>{{cite web|last=Duecy|first=Erica|title=On Location in India with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel|url=https://www.fodors.com/news/on-location-in-india-with-the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel-5457|date=May 23, 2012|work=[[Fodor's]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref>

Claire MacDonald, writing for ''[[The Australian]]'' in 2016, conjectured that the hotel's staff, Mohan, who had worked there seventeen years and wore stylish clothing gifted by the production company's wardrobe department, might have been an inspiration for "Sonny's" character.<ref name="marigold"/>

==Reviews==
[[Deborah Moggach]], author of ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'' said, "If you want a wonderfully atmospheric, slightly dusty, idiosyncratic, blissfully romantic hideaway, then the Ravla Khempur is the place for you".<ref>{{cite web|title=Explore the Golden Triangle and the real Marigold Hotel|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/travel/experttraveller/tours/rajasthan-india-real-best-exotic-marigold-hotel-tour|date=December 30, 2018|work=[[The Times]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> By 2015, the hotel had favorable reviews on [[TripAdvisor]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Zaldivar|first=Gabe|title=Finding the Best and Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel|url=https://www.travelpulse.com/news/entertainment/finding-the-best-and-second-best-exotic-marigold-hotel.html|date=March 6, 2015|work=TravelPulse|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> and was featured in the [[Lake Palace|Taj Lake Palace]] package tour, "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tour".<ref>{{cite web|title=Taj offers a Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tour|url=https://www.cntraveller.in/story/taj-offers-best-exotic-marigold-hotel-tour/|date=February 23, 2015|work=[[Condé Nast Traveller]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' Matt Hampton said of his tour of India, "But it might just be a stay at the Ravla Khempur hotel that steals your heart....the charming guesthouse offers Indian hospitality in a truly atmospheric setting."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hampton|first=Matt|title=12 of the best holidays in Asia|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/expert-traveller/destinations/asia/best-asia-holidays|date=December 3, 2018|work=[[The Times]]|accessdate=December 30, 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category inline|Ravla Khempur}}

{{coord missing|India}}

[[Category:Tourist attractions in Udaipur district]]
[[Category:Heritage hotels in India]]

Ravla Khempur - Revision history

imported>Tahmid: Undid edits by Katherinejdoug (talk) to last revision by Citation bot: using Wikipedia for advertising/promotion