Siddhartha Basu reveals the late Nitin Desai was struggling with financial issues for quite some time

Quiz master and TV producer Siddhartha Basu mourns the demise of four-time National Film Award winning art director Nitin Desai

On Wednesday, the film industry woke up to a shocking and of Nitin Desai, a four-time National Award winner, reportedly committing suicide at his ND studio in Karjat. Quiz master and TV producer Siddhartha Basu, who collaborated with Desai on several projects, is also having a tough time dealing with the news.

Siddhartha Basu worked with Nitin Desai on projects such as Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bluffmaster Dus ka Dum and Sach ka Saamna

“I haven’t been in touch with him directly for the last few years, but we have mutual friends. I got to know that he met some of the mutual friends on Sunday, and seemed perfectly okay, and not like a man going through so much stress and contemplating this move,” Basu tells us.

Here, he asserts that it reflects how one can never know what is going on in someone’s mind. “Nitin had this never say no spirit, we can’t even imagine the stress and the pressure that led him to take such an extreme step,” Basu says, revealing, “The friends he met on Sunday didn’t spot anything wrong. He was happy with them, and was in fact talking with excitement about his upcoming projects. There was not even a glimmer of stress. It is really sad news.”

Several reports are stating that he was going through a lot of financial struggle, with a default on a ₹252-crore loan as well.

“Another set of friends have shared that he was indeed going through some financial problems, and they were not recent. He was going through several financial issues for quite some time,” he says.

Basu worked with Desai on projects such as Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bluffmaster Dus ka Dum and Sach ka Saamna.

Looking back at his memories of working with him, Basu says, “He used to dream impossible dreams, and made them possible. He worked all over the world, and did installations in London and New York. He made things on a grand and massive scale. We did so many mega projects. I remember when foreign KBC producers came and saw the conditions at Film City, with no infrastructure and air conditioning, they said it would be an impossible task. He helped us dissociate the whole Film City labyrinth, and got a world class setting. He was a pioneer in art. It is such a sad day.”