‘P. Sarojini’
Mumbai (CWBN)_ The famous costume designer and India’s first Oscar winner Bhanu Athaiya passed away on Thursday at her home in Mumbai. She was 91 and was suffering prolonged illness.
Bhanu Athaiya is a native of Kolhapur and began her career as a costume designer in Hindi cinema in 1956 with Guru Dutt’s super hit movie C.I.D. Later she won Oscar award for her work in the movie ‘Gandhi’ in 1983. She won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in Richard Attenborough’s movie Gandhi along with John Mollo.
Bhanu Athaiya’s daughter Radhika Gupta said that her mother passed away peacefully in her sleep. She added “She passed away early this morning. Eight years ago, she was diagnosed with a tumor in her brain. For the last three years, she was bedridden because one side (of her body) was paralysed”. The last rituals were done at the Chandanwadi crematorium in south Mumbai.
Athaiya has worked over 100 movies in her long fifty-decade career. She has won two National Awards for Gulzar’s mystery drama Lekin in 1990 and the period film Lagaan in 2001. Athaiya returned her Oscar to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for safe-keeping in 2012.
Athaiya has contributed her best in her career as a costume designer. Apart from excelling in her career, the Oscar award winner is a national pride too. Many Bollywood celebrities and VIPs are sharing their condolence for her loss.
