Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar is in shocked to listen to about artwork director Nitin Desai’s alleged suicide amid his monetary struggles. Unable to wrap his head across the unlucky incident, Bhardarkar reveals that Desai hosted a lavish wedding ceremony get together for his daughter simply three months again.
“I last worked with him on Indu Sarkar in 2017, and then pandemic also got in between. But we stayed in touch. We used to talk to each other often over a call or messages. In fact, I met him just three months back with Ashutosh Gowariker,” Bhandarkar tells us, sharing that they even linked after the discharge of Babli Bouncer (2022), and made plans to collaborate once more.
According to the police, Desai, a four-time National Award winner, was discovered hanging in his ND studio in Karjat on Wednesday.
The 54-year provides, “We all met him when his daughter got married. It was a lavish wedding at the studio itself with over 1000 guests in attendance. I can’t fathom the fact that he is no more. He was an extrovert and friendly person, who made his mark in different industries from Hindi to Marathi.”
Reportedly, Desai had defaulted on a ₹252 crore mortgage to its monetary creditor, and a chapter courtroom had admitted an insolvency petition towards his firm final week. Asked Bhandarkar if he ever sensed the late director was going by means of a monetary crunch on the wedding ceremony, and he tells us, “No, nothing, it was normal. The wedding was really lavish. He was acting just like how a father whose daughter is getting married would act — he was happy and over the moon. Everything seemed perfect.
The filmmaker, who has worked with Desai on four films —Traffic Signal (2007), Fashion (2008), Jail (2009) and Indu Sarkar (2017) — further reveals that Traffic Signal was one of the first films to be shot at ND Studio.
“At that time, I told him that I don’t have a huge budget for it, and he assured me and made a set. He was also working on Jodhaa Akbar (2008) at that time. That was the contrast he used to work on. He was the one who created the jhopdis of Traffic Signal, and the lavish ramp for Fashion,” he shares, including, “I never saw him tense or depressed. He used to take stress about his work, but nothing like that. I never thought that he would take this step. It has been really unfortunate.”
Mourning the loss, Bhandarkar concludes, “He was a game changer when it came to art. He worked with all the top filmmakers, and brought such diversity to the craft. It has been a huge loss.”
Source web site: www.hindustantimes.com
