Five standout works of art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai, from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas to Kaun Banega Crorepati

In his career of more than three decades, Nitin Chandrakant Desai is credited as an art director and production designer on some of the biggest of Hindi films. After getting a breakthrough in filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s period film 1942: A Love Story, Nitin went on to work on films like Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Rajkumar Hirani’s Munnabhai series, Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan, Swades, Jodhaa Akbar and Slumdog Millionaire among others.

It is impossible to squeeze his wide-ranging work over decades in a listicle, but here are five standout works of Nitin Chandrakant Desai which will always be remembered.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

The 1999 romantic drama was the beginning of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali spectacle that we know today. Opulent, rich, colorful, strokes of epic in every frame and corner. And it was Nitin Chandrakant Desai, who was attached to the film as an art director and production designer, who brought to life Bhansali’s vision to a scale that is still remembered, emulated and envied. For the film, he bagged his second National Award.

Lagaan

Lagaan is an epic musical sports drama, set in 1893, about a village playing cricket against the British to avoid paying heavy taxes they owe. There was a lot to do for Nitin Desai in the Ashutosh Gowariker directorial but there was also a lot at risk. By the virtue of being a period drama, Nitin had to get every detailing of that time right. Also attached as a production designer and art director, Nitin was in charge of ensuring the ‘look’ of the film, from its sets to costumes to every visual asset that will make into a frame. The Aamir Khan starrer released to acclaim–even landing a historic Oscar nomination–and Nitin’s exceptional work on the film successfully transported the audience to late 1800s. It also earned him his third National Award.

Devdas

By now, Nitin Chandrakant Desai had become sort of a time machine for filmmakers to take the audience back in time with his art. For the 2002 blockbuster Devdas, he collaborated with Bhansali again to deliver one of the most visually stunning works of the filmmaker. The sets became grander, the song sequences never seen before, the opulence in the Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit starrer put to shame anything else that came before it as the 1917 Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay novel got a stunning screen adaptation. Nitin Desai’s work on Devdas left a strong pop culture impact, truly cementing the Bhansali aesthetic on celluloid, which every filmmaker takes a reference from till today, including Karan Johar, who recently said for a song sequence in his latest Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, his brief was to “copy Sanjay Leela Bhansali”. Nitin bagged his fourth National Award for the film.

Jodhaa Akbar

Filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker’s 16th century-set film chronicling the romance between Mughal emperor Akbar and Princess Jodhaa Bai gave Nitin Chandrakant Desai a canvas to bring history to the big-screen in a manner that was grand, but not flashy, appropriate for the time but not dated. Closely working with Ashutosh Gowariker yet again, the production designer brought his A-game to the historical drama, which is remembered for remarkably recreating the era gone by. In an interview with The Hindu, Nitin Desai had opened up about designing for the film and said, “For the Agra Fort in Jodhaa Akbar, we worked keeping in mind that red stone was used for construction during Akbar’s time as opposed to marble in the period of Shah Jahan.”

Slumdog Millionaire/Kun Banega Crorepati

It is a story of wonder, how Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s work on the small screen led him to a Danny Boyle film. Nitin had designed the sets of the Amitabh Bachchan hosted popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati? which marked the megastar’s TV debut. The game show’s set was nothing like the Indian audience had seen before on TV. It was slick, built in a way to maximise audience participation and yet intimate for the contestant who would sit on the “hot seat” and face Bachchan. It was after seeing his work on KBC that Danny wanted Nitin to design the sets of the show for his film Slumdog Millionaire.

In an interview with The Hindu, Nitin had said that the Trainspotting director wanted the “exact set” he had made for KBC, so nothing changed on screen. “To make the shooting process easier, I shifted the control room from the basement to the top, but that was purely for behind-the-scenes business,” he had said.

Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s suspected suicide has left the industry in shock. According to Somnath Gharge, SP, Raigad, his body was found hanging in ND Studios, which he owned. Reports said that Nitin Desai was under financial stress as his studio was not doing well.

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