Mumbai, Aug 2 (PTI): Film personalities, including Hema Malini, Manoj Bajpayee, Siddhartha Basu, and Neil Nitin Mukesh, on Wednesday condoled the demise of celebrated art director Nitin Desai, remembering him as a “genius” and “a warm human being”.
Desai, known for designing sets of popular big-budget titles such as Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan” and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”, was found hanging at his studio in the Karjat area of Raigad, about 50 km from Mumbai, said a senior police official. Desai was 57. Actor-politician Hema Malini said Desai’s death was a “terrible loss” to the film industry.
“Such a warm human being, associated with many of my projects and ballets… May he find peace wherever he is,” she tweeted.
Bhansali Productions, founded by director Bhansali, paid homage to Desai on social media. The banner shared a photo of the art director on its Instagram Stories and captioned it as “May your soul rest in peace”.
“Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Nitin Desai. A brilliant art director and a good friend, his contribution to Indian cinema has been monumental. My thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time,” actor Sanjay Dutt wrote on Twitter. Neil said it is difficult to accept the heartbreaking news of Desai’s death. The late art director worked on “Jail”, the 2009 film starring the actor.
“Our beloved #nitindesai has left for his heavenly abode. He was simply a genius. A visionary artist with grace, style who understood not just his craft but people. He was a positive soul who spread only love to all. My God give his family strength. Om Shanti,” he posted on Twitter, which was recently rebranded as ‘X’.
Basu, who worked with Desai on popular reality shows such as “Kaun Banega Crorepati” and “Dus Ka Dum”, said he was shocked to hear about the passing of his “friend and artistic collaborator”.
“He made sets for so many of our shows – KBC, Kamzor Kadi, Heartbeat, Bluffmaster, Dus ka Dum, Sach ka Saamna.. Conjuring world class installations on an industrial scale. Om shanti,” Basu wrote on the microblogging site.
Desai was also known for his art work in films such as “Jodhaa Akbar”, “Swades”, “Parinda”, and “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo”, “Parinda”, as well as web series “Paurashpur”.
In his career spanning over 30 years, Desai earned National Film Awards in Best Art Direction for four films, namely “Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar” (1999), “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” (2000), “Lagaan” (2002), and “Devdas” (2003). He was a frequent collaborator of directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Bhansali, Rajkumar Hirani, and Gowariker.
