Nitin Desai, Art Director of Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar, Found Dead in His Studio; Police Suspect Suicide

Art director Nitin Desai was found dead at his N D Studio in Karjat. While the police is yet to share further details about the cause of his death, initial reports claim he died by alleged suicide. The police has arrived at the spot for further investigation. It is claimed that Nitin died by suicide 4 am. Police officials received a call from the studio a while back. A suicide note has not been recovered so far.

“Today morning, Shri Nitin Desai’s body was found hanging in ND Studios. We are investigating all angles,” Somnath Gharge, SP, Raigad said. It is claimed that the art director was in financial distress and his studio wasn’t running well. However, there has been no confirmation of the same from the police.

Nitin made his debut as an art director in 1989 with Parinda. He went on work on several other projects. These include 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 Bollywood projects as an art director were Panipat (2019) and Paurashpur (2020). In Paurashpur, he was credited as production designer.

He won four National Awards in his career. These include for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (1999), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2000), Lagaan (2002) and Devdas (2003). He also made his debut as a director in 2011 with Hello Jai Hind! He also acted int he film. He directed 2012’s Ajintha but did not return to the directorial seat since. He turned producer in 2008 with Raja Shivchatrapati and 2018’s Truckbhar Swapna.

Nitin established his studio ND Studios in Karjat in 2005. The studio served as a venue for several films. However, the biggest hightlight of the studio for several years was that it was the house for Salman Khan’s Bigg Boss. The venue was also used for Major Lazer’s Lean On.

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