Kanu Desai, born Kanhaiyalal Hukumatrai Desai, (12 March 1907 – 9 December 1980) was an Indian artist and art director. He contributed to decorative art, drew and designed sets for films, and illustrated several books written by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

Life

Kanu Desai was born in

Bharuch Bharuch () is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District. The city of Bharuch and surroundings have been settled since times of antiquity. It was a shi ...

, Bombay Presidency, in 1907. Later his family shifted to his maternal uncle's home in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

. In 1920, he volunteered at

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

session in Ahmedabad addressed by

. He joined

Ravishankar Raval Ravishankar Raval (1892–1977) was a painter, art teacher, art critic, journalist and essayist from Gujarat, India. He worked for the magazine ''Vismi Sadi'' until it closed in 1921, and then founded the cultural magazine '' Kumar''. Life Rav ...

to learn art in 1922. He was sent to

Shantiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and ...

to study under

Nandalal Bose Nandalal Bose (3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966) was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art and a key figure of Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism, Contextual Modernism. A pupil of Abanindranath Tagore, Bose was known for his ...

in 1925 through the scholarship of

Gujarat Vidyapith Gujarat Vidyapith is a deemed university in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. This institute was founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi, India's " Father of the Nation" and the leader of the Indian independence movement. It has been deemed university s ...

. He was thus influenced by Bose and

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

. In 1930, he joined Gandhi in

Dandi March The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of non violent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

during which he drew many paintings which recorded the event. Later he started drawing silhouette paintings. In 1937, he participated to decorate INC session at Haripura. His drawings published as romantic albums under ''Jeevan Mangal'' and ''Nritya Manjari'' titles. After designing coverpages of books, he started designing sets for films in Mumbai. He made plaster casts for the sets in ''Ram Rajya'' (1945). He worked as an art director for several films including ''

Baiju Bawra Baiju Bawra (Lit. "Baiju the Insane", born as Bacchu Nath or Baij Nath) was a dhrupad musician and composer from medieval India. Nearly all the information on Baiju Bawra comes from legends, and lacks historical authenticity. According to the mos ...

'', ''

Navrang Navrang is a 1959 Indian Hindi-language film co-written and directed by V. Shantaram. The film is noted for its dance sequences with lead actress Sandhya and music by C. Ramchandra, while playback singer Mahendra Kapoor made his singing debut ...

'', ''

Bharat Milap ''Bharat Milap'' is a Bollywood film based on Ramayana. It was released in Bollywood films of 1942, 1942. It is Ramayana from Bharata's point of view and is about the brotherhood of Lord Rama and Bharata. Remakes It was remade into two movies i ...

'', ''

Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje () is a 1955 Indian Hindi-language dance film directed by V. Shantaram. It stars Shantaram's wife Sandhya and dancer Gopi Krishna in lead roles. One of the earlier Technicolor films made in India, the film won the All India Certificate of M ...

''. He died in 1980.

Awards

He received

Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, also known as the Ranjitram Gold Medal, was founded by Gujarat Sahitya Sabha and is considered the highest literary award in Gujarati literature. The award is named after renowned Gujarati writer Ranjitram Mehta. It is a ...

, the highest award in Gujarati culture, in 1938. He was also awarded

Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction The Filmfare Best Art Direction Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. Although the awards started in 1954, this category was started only in 1956. Superlatives Awards See also * Fi ...

in 1957 for ''

''. In 1965, he received Gujarat Gaurav Puraskar from Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy.

References

External links

* *
Shrungarika
(1945)
Rang Lahari
(1941) {{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Kanu 1907 births 1980 deaths Indian art directors People from Bharuch district 20th-century Indian painters Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Painters from Gujarat