India’s first Oscar Winner costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, who became the first Indian to win an Oscar, for Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ (1982), died at her residence in Mumbai on Thursday after a prolonged illness. She died at the age of 91. Athaiya was suffering from a brain tumor for the last eight years, her daughter Radhika Gupta told reporters.
Athaiya was born in Kolhapur in 1929. She commenced her career as a fashion illustrator for magazines prior to her moving to design costumes for films. She made her debut with Raj Khosla’s ‘C.I.D.’ in 1956 and continued to design career for some of the milestone films of Indian cinema, including Guru Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa’ released in 1957 and ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ in 1959 and Abrar Alvi’s ‘Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’ in 1962.
Athaiya designed for over 100 Indian films exciting her career for nearly 60 years. Her output in the 1960s included Gunga Jumna, Amrapali, Waqt, Teesri Manzil, and Milan. Her career achievement covers various milestones.
In a career spanning five decades and over 100 films, she won two National Awards for Gulzar''s mystery drama ‘Lekin’ in1990 and the period film ‘Lagaan’ directed by Ashutosh Gowariker in 2001.
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