Curated By: Shrishti Negi
Last Updated: August 03, 2023, 10:00 IST
Noted art director Nitin Desai was found dead at his studio in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
Renowned art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai was found hanging at his studio in Karjat near Mumbai on Wednesday. His initial postmortem report is out.
An initial postmortem report of art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai has revealed that he died due to hanging. The postmortem was conducted by a team of four doctors on Wednesday, August 2. Nitin Desai, the creator of lavish sets for films such as Devdas, Jodhaa Akbar and Lagaan, was found dead at his studio in Karjat near Mumbai on Wednesday.
“Postmortem of art director Nitin Desai has been conducted by a team of four doctors. As per preliminary findings, the cause of death is due to hanging. Further investigation is underway,” the police was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Desai’s mortal remains will be handed over to his family on Friday when his son will arrive from the US for the last rites. His last rites will be performed inside N D Studios itself as per wishes of his family.
The National award-winning art director and production designer would have turned 58 on August 9. His sudden death has sent shockwaves through the film industry with Akshay Kumar, Hema Malini, Manoj Bajpayee, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Resul Pookutty, Madhur Bhandarkar and Siddhartha Basu, among others, sending their condolences.
Nitin made his debut as an art director in 1989 with Parinda. He went on to work on several hit projects. These included 1942: A Love Story (1993), Khamoshi: The Musical (1995), Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Mission Kashmir (2000), Raju Chacha (2000), Devdas (2002), Munnabhai M.B.B.S. (2003), Dostana (2008), and Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (2010). His last Hindi projects as an art director were Panipat (2019) and Paurashpur (2020). In Paurashpur, he was credited as production designer.
He won four National Film Awards in his career. These included for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (1999), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2000), Lagaan (2002) and Devdas (2003).
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