Final goodbye to art director Nitin Desai

Bollywood is mourning the demise of four-time national award-winning art director Nitin Desai, who was found dead in his studio in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

According to police Desai’s body was found hanging in his ND Studio in Karjat, some 80 km outside Mumbai.

From Akshay Kumar and Neil Nitin Mukesh to Abhishek Bachchan, film stars have called his demise a great loss and remembered his remarkable works.

As reported earlier, Akshay Kumar delayed the release date of his trailer.

Abhishek Bachchan also officially announced that the trailer of his upcoming film Ghoomer will not be released on August 3.

On behalf of the team, he tweeted, “As a mark of respect to our beloved #NitinDesai, we the team of #Ghoomer have decided to postpone our trailer release function which was to be held tomorrow in Mumbai. We will release it the day after on the 4th of August.”

Desai was known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He worked with directors like Ashutosh Gowarikar, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

He worked as an art director in movies such as Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Jodhaa Akbar, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Once Upon A Time in Mumbai, and Panipat, among others.

He had won three Filmfare Awards for Best Art Direction and four National Film Awards for Best Art Direction.

His passing away left the film fraternity in shock.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar told ANI, “It’s the very sad demise of Nitin Chandrakant Desai ji. I had a great bond with him and worked with him in four films Traffic Signal, Fashion, Indu Sarkar, and Jail. He was absolutely an amazing and talented art director. His contribution to Indian cinema will always be remembered. A personality who is very extrovert, down to earth, very friendly to people, always supportive, even if it would be a small film or a regional film, he would still stand by with the filmmakers. I just can’t believe it when I got the news that he is no more with us. I had great relation with him for more than 20 years. My heartfelt condolences to his family members.”

As per fresh reports on his death, a tape recorder has also been found by the police which is believed to be carrying a suicide note. And ex-employee also revealed that a piece of paper was found with Desai, where it was written that his funeral should be performed at the studio itself because ND Studio is very close to his heart.

Stay tuned to this space for more updates!