The Art of Costume Designing--Bhanu Athaiya

The Art of Costume Designing by Bhanu Athaiya; Published by Collins ; Pages 188 ; Price Rs.2500/-
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Who can forget the bewitching angels Vyjayanthimala in “Amrapali” and Waheeda Rehman in “Guide”—both in costumes inspired by classical sculptures? Vyjayanthimala adorned in her role as “Amrapali ’ swept all of their feet by the vibrant costume inspired by Ajanta and complemented by an artistic hairdo and ornate jewellery. Who created this magic?. Bhanu Athaiya.

Richard Attenborough, celebrated producer of “Gandhi” in an affectionate Foreword to the book under review writes, “Bhanu Athaiya is the revered doyenne of Indian costume designers….For the benefit of future generations of filmmakers, film-lovers and designers, it is important to landmark the work done by someone with a such knowledge, vision and passion.” He wrote that while it took him 17 long years to set up “Gandhi”, his dream film, it took him just 15 minutes to make up his mind that Bhanu Athaiya was the right person to create the many hundreds of Indian costumes that the film required.

She was the first Indian to bag the Oscar for her work in Attenborough’s “Gandhi”. She annexed the Lifetime achievement Award at the South Asian International Festival in 2005 as also the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Her work has been displayed in the Festival of India, New York. She bagged twice National Awards for costume designing for “Lekin” and “Lagaan”

Athaiya hails from Kolhapur—where her forefather’s book “Rukmini Swayamwar ” was prescribed as Sanskrit reading in the Rajaram College of Kolhapur University. It is revealing to note that the prize she won for the best essay—a princely amount of Rs 30/- was spent on viewing seven times Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”, famous for its waltz of flowers.
Bhanu comes from a privileged family -- her father was a man of leisure, indulging his artistic passions and interests while encouraging his large family of a wife and seven children to do the same. It was this encouragement that led Bhanu out of her sprawling house in Kolhapur to the city of Bombay, in order to pursue her passion -- studying art at the J.J. School of Arts. "Travelling to Bombay was very exciting for me. It had been a dream for a long time, and I felt like it was finally happening. I made the journey with my art teacher from Kolhapur, who had convinced my mother to send me," recalls Bhanu. She annexed a gold medal from the J.J.School of Arts. She secured a French Government scholarship and went to Paris to study art, culture and cinema.
The next milestone in Bhanu's life was her job at a magazine called Eve's Weekly, where her fashion illustrations would appear in each issue, making her a known name. When its editor opened a boutique, she asked Bhanu to try designing dresses She discovered her flair for designing clothes and her success as a designer soon led to her switching career paths.Guru Dutt asked her to design clothes for his films, start with C.I.D. in 1956 ; there was no turning back for her from then on. She worked for five Guru Dutt films. Meanwhile Bhanu was designing a lot of creations for the boutique. Her customers included actresses Kamini Kaushal and Nargis.
Beginning her career in costume designing over half a century ago she has created a world of her own that set the standards for costume design in Bollywood cinema. She has done costume designing for 131 films beginning with “C.I.D” and ending with “Swades”. She has prepared costumes for six films of Raj Kapoor. Recalling her association with Raj Kapoor, Athaiya writes: ‘One day Nargis decided to take me to R.K. Studio to introduce me to Raj Kapoor. We travelled to Chembur in her car. As we entered the spacious studio, the first thing I noticed was a huge Shiva statue. Then the car took a left turn and moved towards a small cottage, which was Raj-saab’s private cottage. At that time, work on ‘Shri 420′ was in progress and I was asked to design costumes for actress Nadira, who was playing a vamp…I gave her an unconventional look.’
She has assisted a galaxy of directors---to name a few—Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, B.R.Chopra, and Ashutosh Gowariker. Among her most memorable output was designing for Waheeda Rehman in “Guide”, Mumtaz in “Brahmachari” and Zeenat Aman in “Satyam,Shivam,Sundaram”.

Bhanu Athaiya has traced the journey of fashion through films with which she has been associated. She has undoubtedly been a catalyst in defining the contours of Indian fashion. “I knew India and its clothes inside out. I went on a sketching tour as an art student and even spent 10 months in Paris where I visited all the cabaret joints, including Moulin Rouge,” she said. Some of her significant expressions that have indeed become a landmark for Indian films include, the looks that she gave to Helen in “Teesri Manzil ”, in the song “O Haseena Julfon Waali”, or the drunk look of Meena Kumari in “ Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam ’. She was able to give Meena Kumari an endearing look even when the canvas of expression had a Black & White base.
The book under review is the tale of her tryst with creativity in design. We begin with the utterly fascinating world of black and white world of cinema and graduate to the scintillating world of Technicolour—heavyweights like “Sangam”, “Ganga Jumna” and “Lagaan”. Her pinnacle is of course “Gandhi” which fetched the first-ever Oscar for an Indian.
This book is a poem in beauty which is at once bewitching and highly informative. She unravels the mystery of how she tackled period pieces which demanded research of extraordinary dimension and total comprehension of Indian mores and traditions. Costume designing gives an actor complete confidence in the role he or she has to play by creating the mood and take the captive audience to a wholly different and distinct time and clime. What is essential is organization, artistry, discipline, gifted imagination and patient research---in all of which there is no peer to Athaiya. The costumes she has designed range from the colourful Rajasthani attire set against the desert backdrop, to the typical dress of villagers in the Gangetic plains and the Himalayas. She brought renown for India in the world of International cinema. She got National awards for two films—Lekin and Lagaan.

One entire chapter is dedicated to the magic of jewellery, which has a hold on Indians and our Gods and Goddesses. Hema Malini in “Sanyasi” is dressed in resplendent jewellery from head to toe and looks like an Apsara descended from heavens above. No wonder Manoj Kumar was ensnared!. Waheeda Rehman is unforgettable in “Reshma and Shera” in her colourful bandhni oddhna and ghagra typical of Rajasthan. Moghul royalty is completely captured by Athaiya in “Jodhaa Akbar”. The kilangi jhumki, and other jewellery of this era are brought out in all glory and authenticity. Athaiya has spent hours hunting for period piece jewellery in Hyderabad and other places. “Jewellery is the penultimate touch in the adornment of attire.” writes Athaiya.

This is an outstanding book, as evocative as it is colourful and is the complete guide to costume design during the last fifty years in Bollywood. That Athaiya’s fame rests not only for “Gandhi” but her variegated creations of extraordinary artistry for five long decades becomes abundantly clear as one turns the pages of this luscious book.


P.P.Ramachandran,
7-04-2010