BEHIND THE SEAMS

Bhanu Athaiya's iconic creations shaped the look of Hindi cinema for seven decades.

- SMITA TRIPATHI

Think of yesteryear actor Mumtaz, and immediately the wrapped-around orange sari in the song ‘Aaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche’ from the film Brahmachari (1968) comes to mind. Look at the film Chandni (1989) and it is Sridevi in her sleeveless blouses and chiffon saris that epitomises it. Lagaan (2001) wouldn’t be half the film without the costumes of the cast that transported us back to the British Raj. And of course, who can forget Gandhi (1982), a film where a single scene required 300,000 people to be dressed in outfits that depicted different parts of the country. Bhanu Athaiya left her mark on all these and a lot more in a career that spanned seven decades. The country’s first formal costume designer, Bhanu worked with directors as varied as Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and Ashutosh Gowariker. Having designed costumes for over 100 films, Bhanu created a space for technicians, especially women, to be recognised making it easier for those who followed in her footsteps such as current-day leading costume designer Veera Kapur who won a National Award for Sardar Udham (2021) or Poornamrita Singh who designed the costumes for The Archies (2023). “It was a very male-dominated business with very few women so it was wonderful to have someone like Bhanu who was so calm and serene. She could easily bridge the gap between what the producer wanted and what the artist was comfortable with,” says actor Zeenat Aman who worked with Bhanu in 15 films over 16 years, starting in 1973.