When costume is a character

I have just returned from an important exhibition in Goa. ‘Bharat Through The Lens of Bhanu Athaiya’ is among the first exhibitions put together by Prinseps auction house, at Goa’s Aguada Jail Museum, a gorgeous little fort and deck which has now turned into a chic hangout space.

- NAMRATA ZAKARIA

I have long admired Athaiya. She was well known as India’s original costume designer, with a career spanning six decades. She worked with filmmakers ranging from Guru Dutt and B.R. Chopra to Yash Chopra, Vijay Anand and right down to Ashutosh Gowarikar. She brought home India’s first Oscar, for Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi, where she styled the entire film in authentic handlooms. She was also a fine arts graduate from Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai, and became the only woman to be a part of the Bombay Progressive Artists cabal, which included India’s first modernists like M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza and S.H. Raza.