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Speaking to ETimes, Desai’s close associate Nitin Kulkarni said, “We are taking him for post mortem to JJ hospital, but his last rites will be performed after his children who live in America arrive.
It will be on Friday.”
The source further informed, “Currently, phones of those present in the studio have been taken by the police officials. No one is allowed to step in and step out as the investigation is underway and will take some 2-3 hours to complete. The final rites are likely to take place at ND Studio.”
Desai is well known for projects like Lagaan and Devdas. He had opened this sprawling studio in the Khalapur taluka on the outskirts of the financial capital where films like Jodha Akbar were shot. His company ND’s Art World is engaged in the business of organising, maintaining, operating replicas of historical monuments and providing facilities and services related to hotels, theme restaurants, shopping malls and recreation centres.
Speaking to ETimes, filmmaker Anees Bazmee who had worked with Desai on his film Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha said, “It is shocking to know about Nitin’s suicide. I had never imagined that something like this would ever happen because he was a very full-of-life person, always laughing and talking to people. He was a great art director, which everyone knows. Nitin was simply a genius with a very sorted personality. I have never seen him under any mental pressure. What he has achieved as an art director is something very few art directors have done. Making such a big studio and maintaining it was not a joke. There were hundreds of people working at the Studios, and managing payments and everything was definitely not an easy cup of tea.”
