Kanu Desai

Kanu Desai was born on 1907 in Bharuch, Gujarat. He was a painter and art director from India. Later, his family relocated to Ahmedabad to live with his maternal uncle. He volunteered during an Indian National Congress assembly in Ahmedabad in 1920, addressed by Mahatma Gandhi. He started learning painting with Ravishankar Raval in 1922. Later, in 1925, he was sent to Shantiniketan on a Gujarat Vidyapith scholarship to study under Nandalal Bose and as a result, was influenced by Bose and Rabindranath Tagore. In 1930, he participated in Gandhi's "Dandi March." He has painted several paintings that documented the event. He later began sketching silhouettes.

In 1937, he helped to adorn the INC session in Haripura. His artworks were published in Jeevan Mangal and Nritya Manjari. After designing book covers, he began designing sets for films in Mumbai. He has created the settings for the 1945 film Ram Rajya. He has also worked as the art director for various films, such as " Navrang Story Soon >> Read More... ," "Baiju Bawra," "Bharat Milap," and "Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje." In 1938, “Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak,” the highest honour in Gujarati culture, was awarded to him and in 1957, he was awarded a Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction for his work on "Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje." In 1965, he was awarded the Gujarat Gaurav Puraskar by the Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy. He passed away in 1980.