BJP MLA writes to Centre to acquire Bhanu Athaiya’s collection

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar has urged the Centre to acquire and display it at the Textile Museum coming up in Mumbai

With a collection of saris belonging to late Oscars winner and ace costume designer Bhanu Athaiya set to be auctioned, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar has urged the Centre to acquire the collection and display it at the Textile Museum coming up in Mumbai.

The epitome of Bhanu Athaiya's career spanning nearly six decades was Sir Richard Attenborough’s 1983 film Gandhi, when she dressed Ben Kingsley to essay the role of Apostle of Peace and the Father of the Nation. The film went on to win 8 Oscars from 11 nominations at the 55th Academy Awards including for best costume design – which was bagged jointly by Bhanu Athaiya and her British collaborator John Mollo.

Bhanu Aythaiya, a Padma Shri recipient, passed away on 15 October, 2020, aged 91 in Mumbai.

Shelar, a senior politician, made the request to Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal.

Noting that the collection of 200 plus saris and textile fabrics is going to be auctioned, Shelar wrote: “The rich legacy of Maharashtra and Indian culture, once auctioned to private hands, may end up in foreign museums or private hands and would be lost to generations of Indians from public viewing.”

Shelar urged that the Textile Ministry should acquire the collection and display it at a sub-section of NIFT at the Textile Museum coming up in Mumbai. “This section can be named as Bhanu Athaiya section,” he said, pointing out that beautiful fabric design and traditional Indian wear had been an integral part of Indian cinema.

The Kolhapur-born Bhanumati Rajopadhye (Bhanu Athaiya) has designed costumes in over 100 Indian films and had worked with top filmmakers like Guru Dutt, BR Chopra, Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, Ashutosh Gowariker.

She started off as a freelance fashion illustrator – but she immediately became part of Guru Dutt’s team with C.I.D (1956).

The designed costumes for several hit movies like – Pyasa (1957), Kagaaz ke Phool (1959), Ganga Jamuna (1961), Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam (1962), Leader (1964), Mere Sanam (1965), Guide (1965), Waqt (1965), Janwar (1965), Kaajal (1965), Teesri Manzil (1966), Patthar ke Sanam (1967), Brahmachari (1969) Mera Naam Joker (1970), Anamika (1973), Nagin (1976), Jaani Dushman (1979), Mr Natwarlal (1979), Abdullah (1980), Karz (1980), The Burning Train (1980), Nikaah (1982), Prem Rog (1982), Razia Sultan (1983), Pukar (1983), Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), Hiro Hiralal (1988), Chandni (1989), Agneepath (1988), Heena (1991), 1942: A Love Story (1993), Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000)

She dressed a long list of stars including Kamini Kaushal, Guru Dutt, Dev Anand, Pran, Dilip Kumar, Waheed Rehman, Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Meena Kumari, Madhu Bala, Balraj Sahni, Sridevi, Vinod Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Raj Kumar, Sadhana.

In March 2010, Athaiya had released her book The Art of Costume Design, published by Harper Collins.