Desai has scored the Disney+/AMC/Prime Video adventure series Nautilus, all three seasons of ITV’s crime drama The Tower (starring Gemma Whelan, Jimmy Akinbola) and EA’s Bafta acclaimed game Tales of Kenzera: Zau. On the festival circuit she is celebrated for the Sundance craft-winning documentary Nocturnes (Cinema Eye 2025 nominee) and Hulu’s headline-grabbing doc The Contestant.
She has also scored scripted series including BBC One’s Crossfire (starring Keely Hawes), Sky’s Funny Woman (starring Gemma Arterton) and StudioCanal’s feature Something in the Water. Her passion for natural history is evident in landmark series including The Wild Ones (Apple TV+), Earthsounds (Apple TV+), James Cameron’s Ocean Xplorers, National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins and Predators (Netflix).
Desai gained international acclaim for her scores to the Oscar-nominated and Bafta / Cannes winning For Sama, Netflix’s 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (Primetime Emmy nominated score), Body Parts (Emmy nominated score) and the hit A24/Netflix film The Deepest Breath. She has scored multiple No. 1 Netflix documentaries of the year, from American Murder: The Family Next Door to What Jennifer Did and is also celebrated for her collaborations with acclaimed game creator Sam Barlow, scoring the BAFTA-winning interactive movie-games Telling Lies and Immortality.
Her music has been performed by renowned orchestras including City Of Birmingham Orchestra, Film Music Krakow, WSA Ghent, MOSMA Malaga, the Camille Awards in Paris, and SXSW London 2025.
Born in London to Indian parents, Desai’s eclectic upbringing led her to study sitar, piano, guitar, tabla, violin, and voice. After earning a degree in mathematics, she trained in sound design at the National Film and Television School, going on to work as a sound designer on feature films including films for Bernardo Bertolucci and Werner Herzog, and as an assistant engineer for Peter Gabriel.
Alongside her screen work, Desai released Tessellation, a solo album created for a large-scale permanent installation in California, expanding her practice into immersive spatial storytelling. With a current slate of high-profile projects for Disney+, Netflix, the BBC and National Geographic, her music continues to push the boundaries of modern screen scoring - from sweeping orchestral fantasy and minimal understatement to experimental sound design and dark, edgy electronics - with every project shaped by a distinctive sonic identity and emotional truth.
