Bollywood’s renowned art director and production designer Nitin Chandrakant Desai breathed his last a few days before his 58th birthday. His body was found hanging in his studio ND Studios in Karjat by his employees. As the entertainment industry is currently busy mourning his loss, it was reported earlier that he was under a lot of financial stress. Now according to a report by the Free Press Journal, not only was his company going bankrupt but he also had a loan of Rs 252 crores which he couldn’t pay back to his creditors.
The report states that a bankruptcy court had admitted an insolvency petition, last week, against Desai’s company ND's Art World Pvt Ltd. It was in 2016 and 2018 that the company had borrowed Rs 185 crore in the form of two loans from ECL Finance. He started facing repayment issues from the beginning of January 2020, even before COVID-19 lockdown had started. As per the FPJ report the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) filed a petition to start a “corporate insolvency resolution process.” ALSO READ: Nitin Desai SUICIDE Update: MLA Mahesh Baldi Makes SHOCKING Revelation, Says Late Art Director Was ‘Under Financial Stress’
The petition was filed by the Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company and Jitender Kothari was appointed as the interim resolution professional, who would handle the entire matter. The report further states that the account was classified a non-performing asset on March 31, 2021 by the creditors. The total default amount had reached Rs 252.48 crores as of June 30, 2022. In response, the late art director’s company had stated that there was a fire incident at the studio on May 7, 2021 causing property loss. The company proceeded to blame the creditors for sending a recovery notice on the same day. ALSO READ: Nitin Desai Passes Away By Suicide, Art Director Found Hanging At ND Studios In Karjat- Read REPORTS
According to a report by the Times Of India, the Raigad Superintendent of Police (SP) stated that their team is currently investigating the case further to “ascertaining all the aspects in this case.”
For the unversed, the art director hanged himself to death just days before his 58th birthday on August 9th. Desai’s untimely passing has left the Indian entertainment industry by shock. He had made a name for himself as an art director and production designer in the Marathi as well as Hindi film industry. His work started gaining recognition with the Vidhu Vinod Chopra directorial 1942 A Love Story, which starred Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Manisha Koirala in lead roles. He has been awarded with the National Film Award for Best Art Direction four times and the Filmfare Best Art Direction Award three times in his career.
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