A.R.Rahman was the most celebrated Oscar winner in India but he was not the first. No man had the honor to call himself the first Indian to win the Oscar; for that honor belongs to a woman named Bhanumathi Athaiya.
Known to the people in Bollywood as Bhanu, she has worked in more than 100 films as the costumer designer. A native of Maharashtra, Bhanu worked in Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi . Released in the year 1982, the film received tremendous ovation and garnered great critical reception.
During the 55th Oscar Awards, she took home the Oscar for the Best Costume Design. The movie won 8 Oscar awards and Bhanu’s role as the costume designer was exquisite. She gave an impeccable reflection of the costumes of the time in which Gandhi lived, trapping the colors and materials in her vivid selection.
Although several men, including A.R.Rahman, Rasul Pookutty and Sampooran Singh Kalra have been awarded Oscars after her, it was lesser known that this woman of substance who brought home the Oscar first to India.