Madhur Bhandarkar, Ketan Mehta and Milan Luthria pay tribute to Nitin Desai

By Upala KBR Hiren Kotwani and Priyanka SharmaThere is a sense of magic as the lights in a theatre dim for we are often within moments transported into another world And if we were lucky we would be transported to a world created by art director Nitin Desai From the earthy village of Lagaan 2001 to the vibrancy of Devdas 2002 from the 16th century palaces of Jodhaa Akbar 2008 to the rsquo70s Bombay in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai OUATIM 2010 there wasnrsquot a setting that the fourtime National Award winner had not introduced us toThe particular permanent set in ND Studios Karjat where Desai was found dead on WednesdayOUATIM director Milan Luthria remembers how he began shooting the gangster film with Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi in real locations across Mumbai Soon crowdmanagement issues made him consider filming on sets Thatrsquos when someone recommended the production designer to him ldquoI told Nitin what I had in mind He said lsquoDonrsquot worry it will all happen in my studio ND Studios Karjatrsquo He came back with a plan and sketches of how he was going to turn around various parts of his studio He made a vintage cafeacute made Sultanrsquos Devgnrsquos character house all white and made the bustling streets where we shot the song Pee loon His greatest quality was that he could adapt to the sensibility of the film He realised that each movie had a different demand which is why every film of his looks differentrdquo he sharesMilan LuthriaThe director remembers that the climax where Devgnrsquos character is shot at while delivering a speech was the most challenging But Desai he says came up with quick solutions Ketan Mehta and Madhur BhandarkarThe studio originally didnrsquot look that way There was chaos but he quickly changed the colours of the backdrop erected a wall on one side and removed certain fountains saying that the style did not match the era we were depicting He was handson If you had an issue and needed a solution Nitin was the manrdquo adds LuthriaSet pieces used for the filming of Lagaan PicsNimesh DaveMadhur Bhandarkar who worked with the production designer on Traffic Signal 2007 Fashion 2008 and several other films is shocked at his demise To him he will always remain the cheerful colleague with a hearty laugh ldquoOne could know of his presence just by hearing his laugh Even if we werenrsquot working together hersquod drop by at my office for a chat over chai Itrsquos difficult to imagine why Nitin would take such a drastic steprdquo says Bhandarkar who had met him in February at his daughterrsquos weddingDesai had won National Awards for his work in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar 1998 Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam 1999 Lagaan and Devdas But to Bhandarkar his work went beyond grandeur ldquoNitin was synonymous with elaborate set design after his brilliant work in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas But he was equally a genius in creating realistic sets for films like Traffic Signal Jail 2009 and Indu Sarkar 2017 He visited Yerawada and Thane prisons to create a realistic set for Jail When I asked him to recreate Connaught Place he promised that it would be as real as Delhirsquos landmark location I was amazed at the transformation I clicked some pictures and sent it to my friends in Delhi who couldnrsquot believe it was a setrdquoA trait of Desai that endeared him to the director was his ability to make good his promises ldquoHe was always flexible with budgets and would say lsquoMain kar ke deta hoonrsquordquoDirector Ketan Mehta shares that the Aamir Khanled Mangal Pandey The Rising 2005 was the first endeavour to be shot in ND Studios that opened in 2005 ldquoWhen he launched the studio the qawwali song from Mangal Pandey was the first shoot on the location Nitin was a disciplined and systematic designer So even before we began shooting everything was previsualised and predecided with major contributions from the creative genius that Nitin wasrdquo says Mehta who worked with him over 28 years and several filmsProducer Ronnie Screwvala who collaborated with Desai on several films most notably Jodhaa Akbar and Fashion remembers him as someone who thought big and created even bigger ldquoHe always gave his all to whatever he did He always thought big and then actually made it happen I am very sad to hear the news rdquo he says