Bhanu Athaiya: The Director’s Designer

Bhanu was a director’s designer who worked with the best filmmakers in India and abroad. She created costumes for each character and took charge of the film. She was never concerned about competition, even when there were many designers in the film industry. She knew her costumes and designs were inspired by rock.

Bhanu was a director’s designer who worked with the best filmmakers in India and abroad. She created costumes for each character and took charge of the film. She was never concerned about competition, even when there were many designers in the film industry. She knew that she created costumes based on solid research into textiles and construction. The Art of Costume Design (2010), her book on fashion and film, is a must-read for anyone interested in the field.

It would be nearly impossible for anyone else to follow in the footsteps of Oscar-winning Bhanu Athaiya, who died on October 15, 2021. It isn’t easy to match a filmography that includes 231 films from 1953 to 2014. And in so many different languages. Her costume design ranged from theatre and calendars to fashion shows.

Bhanu, a gold medalist in costume design, is a living legend. She spent her childhood in Kolhapur, where she was introduced to finer art, music, vocals, and embroidery. Bhanu was nine years old when she passed her elementary and intermediate art exams. She was then ready to join the J.J. School of Art.

Bhanu began his career as a freelance illustrator in fashion and beauty. It was edited by KD Jihangiani, who went on to edit Femina. Bhanu became the preferred fashion illustrator for Eve’s Weekly in the late Forties. Her fashion sketches were intended to give post-independence Indian women a new direction for fashion.

Bhanu’s sketches, from 1948 to 53, featured a variety of dramatic saris, cholis, and embroidery designs that highlighted the country’s crafts. Eve’s Weekly opened a boutique where her designs were sold to celebrities and Indian movie stars.

A choli Bhanu designed for Nadira in the blockbuster Shree 420 proved to be a hit with fashion lovers and became a phenomenon. This was the first step that Bhanu took into the cinematic world. Bhanu began her successful career as a costume designer for movies a year after the release of C.I.D. Her design career was an astronomical success. Guru Dutt sent Bhanu to Calcutta in order to study the period for Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam because intense research was at the heart of Bhanu’s designs.

She reinvented the salwar kameez for Waqt (1965) by narrowing it into churidars and adding a figure-hugging tight Kurta. She created the form-fitted clothes that are still popular today for Amrapali.

The Feather on Gandhi’s Cap: When Richard Attenborough interviewed designers in India to create Gandhi (1982), he found several who wanted to work with this legendary director. It was not until a 15-minute encounter with Bhanu that he realized that he had finally found the perfect designer.

Bhanu had twelve weekends in 1980 to complete her assignments in Mumbai and two-and-a-half months to shoot in Delhi. Bhanu covered a period–from 1885 to 1949–for Gandhi. She won the Oscar in 1983 for creating costumes not only for the main characters but also for hundreds of other actors, particularly during the funeral scene, where the large crowd needed to be dressed properly.

Award galore! In 1991, Bhanu won the National Award for Gulzar’s Lekin, which was set in Rajasthan. Bhanu won the National Award for Lagaan again in 2001. This was Bhanu’s second Academy Award-winning film. Bhanu won The ObserverScreen Award in 1992 for Randhir Kapoor’s Henna.

Bhanu wasn’t just an expert in creating traditional and period costumes. She was also a master at designing stylish westernwear. For example, she designed perky schoolgirl outfits for Anu Aggarwal’s role in Aashiqui and Simi Garewal’s glamorous dresses during the T.V. show Women’s World as Karz. It was unfortunate that despite her impressive portfolio, she was not considered for a Padma Award.

Innately Private: Bhanu was always a very private person, almost a recluse. She was immersed in her work 24/7. She did not have assistants because she believed that no one could think as well as her. It was hard to get an appointment with her since she appeared rarely in print. Bhanu was a strict taskmaster who had to be in control of everything, from the design of a pin to the costumes and jewelry, when it came to creating a film.

Her 24-hour plan was meticulously planned. Her favorite taxi driver greeted her in the early morning hours when she traveled to film studios, workshops, or the homes of stars for fittings. She said that her taxi was where she lived, worked, and slept.

Bhanu did her homework so thoroughly and with such a high level of detail for each film that she would often say that she was ready to take the test. She was confident that she’d be prepared and at her best when given a difficult assignment.

Bhanu was a director’s designer who worked with the best filmmakers in India and abroad. She created costumes for each character and took charge of the film. She was never concerned about competition, even when there were many designers in the film industry. She knew that she created costumes and designs based on solid research into textiles and construction. Her The Art of Costume Design (2010) is a must-read for fashion and film students.

Bhanu, in 2012, returned her Oscar Trophy to the Academy of the United States, believing it safer there. Bhanu wanted her work to be displayed in a museum so that future generations could see it. Bhanu will auction off her sketches, paintings, and other works in December 2020.

Online auction: Indrajit Chatterjee of Prinseps is organizing the Bhanu Athaiya online auction, for which live competitive bidding will take place for a few hours on December 2 at 7 pm. Prinseps was founded in 2018 and specialises in niche estate auctions. Its first auction featured the Rathindranath Tagore Estate.

Bhanu’s Online Auction features her early sketches from the J.J. School of Art, as well as her Eve’s Weekly and her school work. Estimates for artwork range from Rs10,000 up to Rs1 crore for an oil canvas called ‘Prayer’ that was displayed in the 1953 show by the Progressive Artists Group. Bidding starts at a tenth of the estimated value, and each lot is bid separately. The bidding will take place online, but bids can also be placed by phone or email.