Bhanu Athaiya was born Bhanumati Annasaheb Rajopadhye in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in British India in 1929. Her father, Annasaheb Rajopadhye, was a painter and photographer who encouraged her artistic interests, and as a child she often played with his leftover paints or observed him at work in his darkroom. He also took her to the movies, and she was particularly enamored with THE GOLD RUSH (1925) and QUEEN CHRISTINA (1933). Athaiya was an accomplished student, excelling in numerous subjects in school, and when she earned prize money for an English essay, she spent it all to see FANTASIA (1940) seven times. Her father also provided a more direct exposure to cinema through his own work. He was a friend of filmmaker Baburao Painter and worked as an assistant on some of Painter’s films, giving Athaiya the opportunity to visit the set of Painter’s PRATIBHA (1937). Her father later directed his own film, MOHINI (1940) and cast Athaiya in a pivotal role. Tragically, he died suddenly while the film was in production, when Athaiya was only 10, and the film was finished by his associate, Madhukar Bavdekar.

Athaiya’s mother encouraged her to continue with her artistic pursuits, and she developed into a skilled painter. Her work so impressed her instructors that they recommended she attend the prestigious Sir J. J. School of Art in what was then Bombay. At 17, she moved to Bombay, studying first at the Nutan Kala Mandir art school before transferring to Sir J. J. School of Arts. Having no family in the city, she wrote to theater actress Hima Devi, whom she had seen on stage once, asking if she could stay at her Bombay home until she found more permanent lodging. Athaiya ended up living with Devi for the duration of her studies. Devi’s mother was an assistant editor at “Fashion and Beauty” magazine, and she secured a fashion illustrator job for Athaiya, who would work in the morning and attend classes in the afternoon. She then became a fashion illustrator for a new publication, “Eve’s Weekly,” where her work was more prominently featured. She graduated from Sir J. J. School of Arts in 1952, and around that time some of her paintings were exhibited in a group show for the Progressive Artist’s Group. Though she continued to receive praise for her painting skills, she saw a more stable future in fashion, so when her editor at “Eve’s Weekly” opened a boutique, Athaiya joined her and designed the shop’s clothing. Actresses began to frequent the shop, including Kamini Kaushal, who eventually hired Athaiya to design her costumes for two of her films, SHAHENSHAH (1953) and AAS (1953).

Athaiya’s association with Kaushal brought her to the attention of the rest of the Indian film industry, and she made the decision to leave fashion in favor of costume design. For six decades, she designed for over 130 films, often working on several films a year in the 1960s and 1970s and worked with many of the most prominent filmmakers in Hindi cinema, including B. R. Chopra, Yash Chopra, Vijay Anand, Dev Anand, Raj Khosla, and Ashutosh Gowariker. She had longstanding working relationships with Guru Dutt, with whom she made C.I.D. (1956), PYAASA (1957), KAAGAZ KE PHOOL (1959), CHAUDHVIN KA CHAND (1960), and SAHIB BIBI AUR GHULAM (1962), and Raj Kapoor, with whom she made MR. 420 (1955), SANGAM (1964), MERA NAAM JOKER (1970), SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM (1978), PREM ROG (1982), and RAM TERI GANGA MAILI (1985). Her other notable credits include GANGA JUMNA (1961), GUIDE (1965), WAQT (1965), LAGAAN (2001), and SWADES (2004). Sometime in the 1950s she married lyricist and poet Satyendra Athaiya and changed her name to Bhanu Athaiya in 1959. Though much of her work was done in Hindi cinema, she also designed costumes for SIDDHARTHA (1973), Conrad Rooks’ adaptation of Herman Hesse’s novel, and Richard Attenborough’s GANDHI (1982). For GANDHI, Athaiya won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, shared with John Mollo, and became the first Indian to win an Academy Award. Her final film was NAGRIK (2015). Athiaya died in 2020.