Bhanu Athaiya: The Women Who Wove Stories Through fabrics

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February 4, 2025

Bhanu Athaiya: The Women Who Wove Stories Through fabrics
Article By: Khushi Balhara

Abstract: Bollywood and fashion go hand in hand. It has been a trendsetter for decades now. Long before the age of social media, influencers and Pinterest mood boards, Bollywood was India’s ultimate style guide. At the heart of this storytelling through fabric, we have Bhanu Athaiya, one of the most celebrated Indian costume designers. Known for her meticulous research and breathtakingly beautiful designs, Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to bring home an Oscar in 1983. She worked in more than 100 movies, and she gave the world some of her most iconic looks and costumes. Bhanu athaiya will always be a name that will be taken always and whenever costume designing will be mentioned, and her works will remain iconic forever.

Keywords: Bhanu Athaiya, Bollywood, Costumes, Costume designing, Legacy, Oscar winner.

Bollywood and fashion go hand in hand. It has been a trendsetter for decades now. Long before the age of social media, influencers and Pinterest mood boards, Bollywood was India’s ultimate style guide. The silver screen decided what people wore, from the bell bottom craze of the ‘70s and Madhubala’s flowing Anarkalis in Mughal-e-Azam to Rajesh Khanna’s guru shirts in Anand. These designs and costumes simply do not remain on the screens, they find a place in the homes and closets of Indians.

However, beyond fashion and trends, costumes have a much deeper role, as they help in forming a bond between the characters and its viewers, and it allows the audience to transport to different eras, cultures and various landscapes, emotionally. Costumes play such a great role in what you project on screen.

A simple piece of clothing can convey a lot about its character’s personality and story, whether it is rugged or in pristine condition, each costume has a story to tell.

At the heart of this storytelling through fabric, we have Bhanu Athaiya, one of the most celebrated Indian costume designers. Known for her meticulous research and breathtakingly beautiful designs, Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to bring home an Oscar in 1983. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she transformed costume design in Indian cinema, elevating it to an art form in its own right.

A short background

Born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in 1929, Athaiya grew up in an environment that nurtured her creative instincts where exposed to the finer aspects of art, music, vocals and embroidery. Her father was a self taught painter and photographer, who worked on the films with Indian film-maker Baburao Painter, which influenced her early interest in art. She went to the esteemed Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, where she studied miniature painting, and even worked as a freelance fashion illustrator for women’s magazines, fashion and beauty. While working for the magazine, her talent was recognised and she realised that this is where her passion lies. Even as a painter she was quite gifted, but while working on the for the magazine she realised that “fashion designing was the more practical option“.

She got her first major break when she worked in Guru Dutt’s “C.I.D.”, in 1956, which marked the beginning of her mind blowing and decorated career. From this point on she worked in more than 100 movies, and she gave the world some of her most iconic looks and costumes. She was a sought- after costume designer, and she worked on both historical and contemporary films. She worked with directors like Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra and Guru Dutt in the beginning of her career and later on she went on to work with other directors like Ashutosh Gowariker and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. She went on to work with Richard Attenborough, for his work on “Gandhi”, for which she won her Oscar and which brought global recognition to her work and India.

Nargis in the unfinished film Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani. Courtesy The Art of Costume Design.

Athaiya is known for her vigorous and historically accurate costume designing. She tried to understand her characters deeply, so that she could design a costume that was true to the character. At a time when the internet was not available, she did not have access to reference material just a simple search away, she did not have pinterest mood boards to draw inspiration from. She went to various museums, libraries, visited various localities and places, and read a number of sources to get a grip and a clear understanding of the subject at hand. Also, the selection of the material to be used was also chosen carefully.
Here are some of her most iconic and memorable works:

Sahib Bibb Amur Ghulam (1962)
This movie is in which Athaiya’s expertise truly shone. Take Meena Kumari’s choti Bahu’s character for instance, who was seen drowning in despair and drinking away her sorrows, athaiya dresses her in heavy, intricate saris in deep reds, with detailed gold embroidery.

“In Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, she created an embroidered sari on net to resemble a dhakai since the original dhakai saris tended to balloon out and Meena Kumari [she was the the lead, Choti Bahu] did not want to look bigger. This fabric just caressed the silhouette so that the wearer didn’t look bloated,” Radhika Gupta, Bhanu athaiya’s daughter, revealed in one of her interviews.

Waqt (1965)

Athaiya revolutized salwar kameez at that time, she dressed the film’s actor, Sadhana in body hugging kameez and churidars. After the release of this film, many young women of the country went on to adorn churidars, and it became highly popularised.

Amrapali(1966)

One of her iconic looks, and my personal favourite, Vyjayanthimala, was seen sporting the low cut bustier and a dhoti saree. Amrapali was based on the legend of a palace dancer who became a Buddhist nun, in which Vyjayanthimala, played the role of a royal courtesan. Her character needed to look like royalty, and that’s exactly what she did.

Athaiya did extensive research to deliver a time appropriate and historically accurate costume designing for the character. She took inspiration from the wall paintings of the Ajanta caves in Aurangabad. Truly iconic!
Later on this specific style of saree draping and design became highly popular and a new style of saree named “Amrapali Sarees” also emerged.

Brahmachari(1969)

Another of her memorable looks is Mumtaz wearing that pre pleated orange saree. Inspiration of many Bollywood day looks, this design is truly unforgettable. This film had Shammi Kapoor at his peak, and Bhanu Athaiya dressed Rajshree in flirty, modern outfits—mini dresses, A-line skirts, and those cute little polka-dot scarves that screamed ’60s fashion.

Gandhi (1982)
Athaiya holds this movie dear to her heart, as it brought her global recognition and won her and our country its first academy award, The Oscar, in collaboration with John Mollo.

“When I look back at a lifetime of work, Gandhi stands out as one of the most challenging assignments.”

Director Richard Attenborough on how easy it was to decide to hire costume designer Bhanu Athaiya to work on “Gandhi” (1982): “It took me 17 long years to set up ‘Gandhi’, my dream film, and just 15 minutes to make up my mind that Bhanu Athaiya was the right person to create the many hundreds of Indian costumes that would be required to bring it to the screen.”

Athaiya worked tirelessly looking for references in museums, libraries,and photographs to draw inspiration for designing costumes for the cast of “Gandhi”. She had to design costumes for Gandhi’s life transitioning into 50 years of his life. She personally dressed other characters as well. In a scene, where 300 people were gathered around, although they were wearing khadi, they each had a unique regional character to them.

“As I grew up, people had taken to wearing khadi, it was a movement that was overtaking our lives—no amount of research could have helped understand that time as living in it had.”

Lagaan (2002)

One of the landmark movies, Lagaan was also nominated for oscars. This time Athaiya did her magic again. She designed this entire ensemble for the entire cast of lagaan, from daily wear of the villagers of champaner to the british official’s costumes, she did it all.

To draw inspiration and for her reference she went to bhuj, in gujarat. She used only khadi and handloom fabrics, the Indian women were seen wearing bright colored cholis, while on the other hand the british officials were dressed in pale pastels.

These were just some of the few marvelous pieces of her work, however the list goes on. To name a few more, “Kaagaz ke Phool”, she dressed Zeenat Aman in “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”, “Razia sultan”, “Chandni”, “Swades”, and the list goes on. She even wrote a book “The Art of Costume Designing” in 2010, it is like a bible to fashion designing students.

Leaving behind such a great legacy, Athaiya passed away in 2020. Bhanu athaiya will always be a name that will be taken always and whenever costume designing will be mentioned, and her works will remain iconic forever.

References:

Bhanu Athaiya: The Women Who Wove Stories Through fabrics

Bhanu Athaiya: The Women Who Wove Stories Through fabrics Article By: Khushi Balhara

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Bhanu Athaiya: The Women Who Wove Stories Through fabrics
Article By: Khushi Balhara