Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 2 : The entire entertainment industry is mourning the demise of four-time national award-winning art director Nitin Desai.
He was found dead in his studio in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, police said on Wednesday. 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.
Akshay Kumar delayed the release date of his trailer. The trailer of ‘OMG 2’ which was supposed to release on Wednesday will be coming out on Thursday.
He took to Twitter and mentioned, "Unbelievably sad to know about the demise of Nitin Desai. He was a stalwart in production design and such a big part of our cinema fraternity. He worked on so many of my films… this is a huge loss. Out of respect, we are not releasing the OMG 2 trailer today. Will launch it tomorrow at 11am. Om Shanti.”
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 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 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 in 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.”
According to Raigad Superintendent of Police (SP) Somnath Gharge, his body has been sent to JJ Hospital for postmortem by Khalapur Police. “His family members have told us that his last rites will take place at ND Studios. His body has been taken for postmortem to JJ Hospital,” he informed the media.
He also added that the investigation is going on, “The devices we have found at the location including mobile phones and other stuff and electronic devices have been seized and we are investigating them. We have also taken the statement of his caretaker and driver and doing the investigations.”
His passing away has created a void that can never be filled.
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