Nitin Chandrakant Desai and his films

August 8, 2023

Nitin Chandrakant Desai, a beautiful dream of film industry. The alchemist who gives reality to the director’s dreams. Today is his birthday. But no one would have thought that the time would come to celebrate it in this manner. We are going to pay tribute to this great Art Director this week in the form of articles. The first article in this series is by Dr Nitin Arekar. Nitin Arekar and Nitin Desai had a great friendship. Desai worked with subtle thinking while directing film art. And it was from this obsession with detailing that magnificent films like Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Balgandharva were born. In this first article of Arekar, let’s read about Desai’s film art direction.

The ten-letter sacred chant ‘Nitin Chandrakant Desai’ gripped not only the Indian but also the international film and TV serial making fields for the past thirty-six years.

On August 6, Dada (Nitin Desai, as everyone used to call him ‘Dada’) would have completed fifty-eight years today. This wonderful artist was obsessed about art and art alone. He used to walk in art, talk in art, nap in art, dream in art and breathe in art and dream about art only. He used to say not just to me but to everyone, that whatever you say to me, I see the meaning of it in the form of a visual only.

I first met Dada in 1989. I often studied in the library in Rajabai Tower. There, twice or thrice in a week, a dusky-complexioned young man with a thick mustache used to sit studying next to me. My aunt Saroj Potdar was the assistant librarian. She used to bring books for the young man herself. Once when I asked her, she told me, “Hey, this is Nitin Desai. Assistant Art Director of ‘Bharat Ki Khoj’. He sits here doing research.” This young man never used to write, but he used to have a large sketchbook with him, in which he would draw something with a sharp pencil. Thereafter he disappeared for a few months. My education was over, yet my affinity to the Rajabai Tower used to draw me there every now and then. At around the same time Chanakya series had started. That young man used to come to study for that too. Later I stopped going to the library. Meeting that young man also stopped. Thereafter we directly met in 2009 at the N D studio.

But before that, I saw this young man grow rapidly. I used to see his work from a distance. Parinda, 1942- A Love Story, Dil Se, Lagaan, Munnabhai film series, Swades, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Ambedkar, Gandhi – My Father, he had woven a series of wonderful films.

‘Chanakya’ was a series done by him independently. The other day, on the day of Dada’s funeral, I was talking to Padmashri Manoj Joshi, the veteran director and founder of channels like Sony-Colors – Sanjay Upadhyay (Sanjay is my senior college mate), and Kishorji Dharia. Manoj and Sanjay are friends of Dada since Chanakya. Dada was the Art Director, while Sanjay a producer and Manoj an actor. Due to some reason, the lead Art Director of Chanakya left the series. While leaving, he told Chandraprakash Dwivedi that now Nitin will continue the work. This was unacceptable to Nitin Desai. How to work in the place of his Guru was a dilemma in front of him! But both Manoj and Dada and Manoj’s common friend Ashutosh Apte made him understand. Manoj said, “Oh, your career will jumpstart. You must take this opportunity.” Sanjay also had the same opinion. Finally, Nitin accepted that responsibility.

He assumed that responsibility from the twenty-sixth episode of Chanakya (as I recall). One thing I always noticed while watching the sets of Chanakya was the structure of the Gurukul in the series. There were tall pillars in the Gurukul, but I did not see a roof on them. The sky was visible there. I used to feel that those pillars held the sky of knowledge. I had recently learned Adibandha criticism from Prof Gangadhar Patil, so had gotten used to looking at everything that way. I used to have that kind of view while looking at the sets of Chanakya. After getting to know Dada, I asked him about it, he said, “Oh, that never occurred to me. Of course, it was not my idea to show the open sky, it was Nitish Roy’s.” While uttering Nitish Roy’s name, he closed his eyes and offered humble salutations to Nitish Roy.

Nitin’s work was first noticed because of ‘Parinda’. Before that, he had done Adhikari Brothers’ film ‘Bhookamp’. But in Parinda, when Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor are killed by machinegun while romancing on a boat, and when the bullets from the machinegun hit the boat’s wall, the rexine on it ruptures and the cotton inside comes out. Earlier in Indian films, realistic props were not created in such a way. The boat sequence was filmed not on an actual boat, but on a set. It was a brilliant job.

Then came the first grand period film of his career – ‘1942- A Love Story’! It was film that was graced by the performances of RD Burman and Nitin Desai. Even Nitin Desai was nervous at the time of signing the film, with some in Chopra’s team doubting how this 25-year-old would handle the project. He couldn’t sleep. He woke up early in the morning and sat on the bank of the lake in Film City, thinking about how he could build a set in the water, as it was a shooting location in that film. As the sun rose, a hand was gently felt on his shoulders. When he turned around, that was Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He asked, “Kya tu wahi soch raha hai jo main soch raha hoon?” (Are you thinking the same what I am thinking?) Dada nodded affirmatively. At that moment, the film came into Dada’s hands. Due to the magnificence of this film, and the sets, Dada received admiration widely. The song ‘Kuch Na Kaho’ was shot on Anil Kapoor and Manisha Koirala. Recollect that set. From somewhere in the distance, perhaps from heaven, a decorated staircase descends from the center of the screen and is seemed to merge into infinity on the left side of the screen. Where does love originate, how it develops, how it evolves… nothing is known. It seems slightly incomplete. Love is never perfect, beauty lies in imperfection – says a Marathi poetess – “Godi apurnatechi, laveel ved jeeva” (Charm of imperfection, would madden the soul). It’s just that. That heavenly staircase, the flowery swing of that song. What is in the mind of the Director comes in the film. But, if there is an Art Director who knows what’s in the mind of the Director, and how it will look more aesthetically appealing on the screen, then the artwork transcends towards perfection. That is felt in this case. When I once mentioned this thought to Dada while chatting, he quickly clapped his hand onto mine. He said, “I had this thought in my mind while designing the set for that song. I did not say anything to Vidhu Vinod. I understood what he wanted and designed it. What sense does my work make if I give it exactly as the Director wants? If I can give something more than what the Director wants, my work has meaning.” In the song ‘Ruth Na Jana Tum To Kahun To’ from the same film, he used the staircase in Rajabai Tower where he was studying in the library.

The character of Munnabhai in ‘Munnabhai’ series is very clear and bold, well defined. Therefore, Dada had chosen everything including the buildings or the sets of Dhobighat, and the houses in it quite bold and well defined. However, the library chosen in ‘Lage Raho’ seems to be somewhat dark and obscure. Whenever Gandhiji appears, he seems to have designed the environment around him to look olden.

He liked red color very much. Red is as dangerous a color in painting as the meaning it carries. It should be used carefully. It can even poke in the eyes through the camera. But Dada could use it skillfully. Look at the color scheme in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ or ‘Devdas’. By then he had become the Production Designer. By the way, he is the first Indian Production Designer in India. So, it was necessary for him to have control over the finer details of the scenes in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Devdas’. If you look at it from this point of view, it seems amazing how he must have combined the grand palaces of Rajasthan in ‘Hum Dil…’ and the corresponding sets in Mumbai’s Film City. The grand and lofty walls, with their equally grand windows and the red curtains on them, are not at all eye-poking, rather they seem more royal. Today in the N D studio, Dada has also made beautiful use of red color in the palace set that he built for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. This red color creates a supreme royal feeling in the mind of the audience.

In Devdas, the scene in which Devdas faces death in front of Paro’s mansion, is immense, but it’s set designing is equally immense. Once again, the walls are painted red. Let me share a remembrance before that. Before making Devdas, Sanjay Leela Bhansali along with Dada watched all previously made ‘Devdas’ films in different languages as a preparation. After seeing all the Devdas for two or three days in a row, Dada looked at him, what now? Bhansali said to Dada, “Have you seen all versions of Devdas. We don’t want to do anything like that. Our Devdas will be grand, magnificent!” The two friends worked together for many years. Dada began creating Paro’s mansion. It turned out to be oversized. Thereafter Bhansali said, “Devdas’s family was richer than hers.” Dada built an even bigger palace. That budget exceeded the planned budget multifold. But neither of them cared. Now came the creation of Chandramukhi’s brothel, which also was made befitting the other mansions. Paro’s father-in-law’s family was even richer; hence Dada erected a fourth magnificent palace. In all these places, the color scheme used by Dada is around the red color, but it is not mutually nullifying. The furniture in each palace is different and unique and is not repeated anywhere. Bhansali did not hold back the budget and Dada also did full justice to that budget.