First Oscar winning Indian Bhanu Athaiya passes away at 91

Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win the prestigious Oscar award for the Best Costume Design at the 55th Annual Academy Awards in 1983. She passed away yesterday morning after battling brain tumor for the past eight years at 91 years of each. She shared her Oscar with British costume designer John Mollo for their work in Sir Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi.

Along   with working for Hollywood movies, she has also designed costumes  in a lot of Bollywood movies. These include C.I.D, Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool, Waqt, Arzoo, Amrapali, Suraj, Anita, Milan, Raat Aur Din, Shikar, Guide, Teesri Manzil, Mera Saaya, Inteqam, Abhinetri, Johny Mera Naam, Geeta Mera Naam, Abdullah, Karz, Ek Duuje Ke Liye, Razia Sultan, Nikaah, Agneepath (1990), Ajooba and 1942 – A Love Story among others.

As a famous designer, she designed costumes for Conrad Rook’s Daring Siddhartha as well as Krishna Shah’s Indo-American film Shalimar.

The news of Bhanu Athaiya’s death was given by her daughter Radhika Gupta. She said, “She passed away early this morning. Eight years ago, she was diagnosed with a tumour in her brain. For the last three years, she was bedridden because one side (of her body) was paralysed.”