Designing diva

In style

Six decades ago, a young girl, whose designs in fashion magazines caught the eye of leading actresses, was recommended to filmmakers by Kamini Kaushal.

Her first three films, Aas and Chalis Baba Ek Chor and Amiya Chakravorty’s Shahenshah, all released in 1953. Who was to know then that Bhanumati Rajopadhye, the young Maharashtrian girl from Kolhapur, would one day become India’s first Oscar winner?

Bhanu Athaiya, as she came to be known after marriage, is nothing short of a living legend. Her downtown Mumbai studio from where she operates has witnessed visitors from Sir Richard Attenborough and Raj Kapoor to Nargis and Zeenat Aman. With over 150 films under her name today, Bhanu declares that her work in cinema was so fulfilling in terms of self-expression that she never even considered options like boutiques.

“Though I was always busy, I never worked for money,” she smiles. “The kind of work I was doing and the creative directors I was working with mattered more. Even now, I only take up work that can stretch my creativity further. It is my natural flair and my father’s encouragement that has brought me to this stage. He would encourage both my mother and me to hone our skills. Paper-cutting, for example, was what he recommended to steady my hand.”

Bhanu shows us an amazing example of this — a cut-out portrait of Mahatma Gandhi that is framed among many sketches and such other work of high craft and art on the wall. “I did that when I was eight. And see how things turned out — it was for a film on Gandhiji that I won my Oscar in 1983!”

It was to refine her art that Bhanu came down to Mumbai and joined the famous J J School of Art after completing a short course in another institute. “I also became a fashion illustrator in a friend’s magazine, moved on to Eve’s Weekly and got my first cover on August 15, 1947.” But she attributes a lot of her skills to the fountainhead of culture that was her birthplace, Kolhapur, and its grand palaces and temples.

Bhanu is so attached to her profession that she “barely notices what she had for meals.” She has been wedded to her work. Her work in films includes costumes for all featured characters and junior artistes, including accessories from turbans to the smallest nose rings. “As a student, I travelled around the country. I know the cultures in and out.

Today, I travel abroad — that is my continuing education. It is my knowledge of such things and my background in art that gave me an edge in my profession. When Sir Attenborough wanted ‘India’s best designer’, especially since Gandhi was to span 50 years in time, and cover the length and breadth of India and South Africa, someone suggested my name. It took Sir Attenborough 15 minutes to decide on me when we met up.”

Recalling the experience, she said that every day was spent researching or shopping. “It was tough — I had to dress up more than 2,000 junior artistes for Gandhiji’s funeral sequence! When the nominations were announced, the co-nominees predicted my win even before I was declared the winner. And I still get a Christmas card from Sir Richard every year,” she says, smiling proudly.

Bhanu also has two National awards to her credit for Lekin and Lagaan. “My concepts always make my imagination soar. But, on the whole, the costumes had to look natural in the backdrop and not distract attention at wrong times.”

In Hindi films, Bhanu has had a 30-year association with Raj Kapoor, from Shree 420 to his last film Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Besides Bollywood, she has also worked in some Marathi films, plays and international co-productions like Shalimar and Siddhartha.

For Bhanu, it has always been about passion and excellence.