Nitin Desai's last rites to be held at ND Studios, mortal remains kept on 'Jodhaa Akbar' sets to pay respect

Nitin Desai`s mortal remains being brought to ND Studios. Pic/Satej Shinde

Nitin Chandrakant Desai passed away on August 2. He was found hanging at his ND Studios in Karjat. Desai, who was in his late 50s, served as art director and production designer for a number of Bollywood and Marathi movies.

Desai's last rites will be held today at ND Studios in Karjat. Several films have been shot in the studios located in the outskirts of Mumbai. On Friday, ahead of the last rites, the mortal remains were kept on the sets of Jodhaa Akbar for people to pay their last respect. Desai was the brain behind the sets of Ashutosh Gowariker's directorial 'Jodhaa Akbar'.

Desai took "lakhs of photographs" of Amer Fort and Agra fort. Using the photos as reference, he erected sets consisting of the inner portions of both places in his studio. The inner portions that were erected by Desai included the Diwan-e-Am, Diwan-e-Khas, Jodhaabai's inner chambers and the fort's gardens. The entire set measured 1,600 feet long, 600 feet wide and 68 feet high, which according to Desai was equivalent to "seven floors of a high-rise". Concrete, fibre and asbestos sheets were the materials used to create the interiors of the forts. The cost of the entire set at Karjat was estimated to be around Rs 120 million.

Around 2 p.m., his remains will be taken in a procession with a flower-bedecked cortege to the helipad, located around half km inside the studio premises, and then consigned to the flames as per his desire.

Desai, 57, was found hanging by a rope in a studio named ‘The Big Floor' - which is a huge stage where shootings were conducted for films and teleserial - as he was trapped in a debt of over Rs 250 crore of unpaid loans, and insolvency proceedings were initiated.

The news of his sudden death created a sensation in the entertainment and political worlds even as the police have launched a comprehensive probe into the incident, as his close associates suspect that he may have ‘planned' to end his life.

The art director's death sent shock waves across the industry with film personalities such as Hema Malini, Riteish Deshmukh, Siddhartha Basu, and Neil Nitin Mukesh mourning Desai's passing. Actor-politician Hema Malini said Desai's death was a "terrible loss" to the film industry. "Such a warm human being, associated with many of my projects and ballets... May he find peace wherever he is," she tweeted. Neil said it is difficult to accept the heartbreaking news of Desai's death. The late art director worked on 'Jail', the 2009 film starring the actor.