Bringing the Oscar Home

A woman with sparkling eyes and beautiful dreams entered the world of fashion with the sole motive of creating fairy tales with her golden hands. This is the journey of a small-town girl who made it big and brought Oscar home.

The golden lady with the golden award; Source: CNN

“It is too good to believe”, she says in her gentle voice. The lady in the sky blue saree, wrapped around her shoulders, gracefully walks towards the stage and grabs the Oscar. History is made as she becomes the first Indian to win the much prized Oscar. The costume designer from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur, Bhanu Athaiya immediately put India on the world stage as she takes the Oscar home. The fashion industry of India changed forever.

It was on 28th April 1929 that the stars would pour over a home in Kolhapur when the little girl would be born. Born as Bhanumati Annasaheb Rajopadhye, the girl would be influenced by her father’s painting skills. Belonging to a large family, she would soon experience the pangs of sorrow as her father would pass away when Athaiya was barely nine.

Life wouldn’t stop for her as the future Oscar winner would work day and night to reach the famed position. A career spanning decades, she would start her journey by working as a freelance fashion illustrator for Eve’s Weekly and other women’s magazines. However, she would discover her true calling as she would be given a lucky chance to design dresses for a boutique. It would only be the beginning of a journey as she would start tasting the sweet taste of success.

Bhanu Athaiya was only waiting to be discovered as the acclaimed film director Guru Dutt would hire her for costume designing.

The 1956 film C.I.D. would be her first work on the sets. She would successively go on weaving magic with her hands and multiple works would be in line for her as she would work for films like Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, etc.

However, life would have more in store for her as it would be a 15-minute audition with Lord Attenborough that would seal her fate as the future Academy Award winner. Her meticulous approach to work along with a soaring imagination would finally give wings to her craft as she would design the costumes for the critically acclaimed film Gandhi. It would be her most challenging work to date as she confessed, but also the most fruitful.

Her eloquent smile would know no bounds as it would be for Gandhi that she would receive the Oscar and pose for the photographs.

Her canvas of work would be so vast as she would work with legendary directors like Yash Chopra, Raj Kapoor, B.R. Chopra, etc. Athaiya would also be a recipient of a National Film Award for Best Costume design for Lagaan and other accolades such as the Filmfare. Her ingenuity and inventiveness with designing made the film industry’s costume designing a hub of opportunities as countless people would be inspired by her work and strive towards what she achieved.

Holding the statue of the golden man in her hands, Athaiya would thank Attenborough for focusing on India. While today cinema-goers and movie enthusiasts contemplate the bleak past of India’s chance in Oscars and its future, they often forget about the name Bhanu Athaiya, who long ago put India on the global map. The veteran passed away on 15th October 2020 after losing a long battle with brain cancer but her dreams and imagination remain alive in the designs she crafted and created. Her Oscar now rests with the Academy due to her fear of mishandling it and along with it rests the golden moment of fame and celebration that she gifted her homeland.