Nitin Desai Passes Away: From Devdas To Munnabhai MBBS, A Closer Look At Iconic Art Director's Works

In an unfortunate incident, Nitin Desai on Wednesday was allegedly found dead at his N D Studio in Karjat. His sudden demise has left celebrities in shock. Known for iconic works, the art director has surely left a void in the industry. The police have not shared any details about the cause of his death but the initial reports suggest he died by suicide.

Nitin Desai was born in Dapoli, and is mostly known for his work in Marathi and Hindi Films. His popular work includes Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Lagaan, Devdas, Jodhaa Akbar Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. He worked with directors like Ashutosh Gowarikar, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Well, In 2002, he turned film producer with Chandrakant Productions’ Desh Devi.

His first feature film was Adhikari Brothers’s Bhookamp, but he rose to fame from Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942: A Love Story. Following this he also worked in films such as Parinda, Khamoshi, Maachis, Baadshah, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Raju Chacha, international projects like Salaam Bombay.

The late art director has also won National Film Award for Best Art Direction four times for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (1999), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2000), Lagaan (2002) and Devdas (2003).

Desai has also designed the sets for films like Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) and the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire (2008). He was the one who created the original set for the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Kaun Banega Crorepati. He was asked to recreate the set for Danny Boyle’s film starring Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor, as mentioned by Cinestaan.

In an old interview with rediff.com, Desai recalled building the set from scratch: “To want Himachal to be created in Mumbai is next to impossible,” he said. “But in Mumbai, we went to Film City, which has a lake and this is where we decided to build the sets. Many people told Vinod it’s a wrong decision to give a newcomer like Nitin Desai a chance to build a set worth Rs80 lakh,” he was quoted saying.