Oscar did not change much for me: Bhanu Athaiya

Athaiya, who won the Oscar for 'Gandhi' in 1982 says that despite the hooplah, the win did not change much for her and the costume department is still a much neglected part of the Indian film industry.

"Actually after the Oscar, my work load lessened because I did not want to just design clothes for actors anymore, I wanted to handle the entire canvas and the look of the film, just like I did in Gandhi," Athaiya said.

The 83-year-old designer was in the capital to release her new book "The Art of Costume Design" published by Harper Collins.

Athaiya whose years in the film industry spans five decades and more than 100 films, says that the plight of costume design has in her opinion deteriorated in the country over the years.

"Costumes have a huge role in making a film look real and beleivable, but Indian filmmakers have never given due importance to it and now a days the trend is to just go shopping abroad and put things together. In my opinion that is not the correct thing to do," said Athaiya, who has also won two National Awards for her work in 'Lekin' and 'Lagaan'.The veteran who defined the aesthetics of Hindi cinema through her prolific work, created some of the best remembered looks in Bollywood history, be it Vaijayanthi Maala in 'Aamrapaali', Waheeda Rehman in 'Guide'or Zeenat Aman in 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'.

Her journey has been well captured in "The Art of Costume Design', and the forward to the colourful tome has been written by none other than legendary filmmaker Attenborough.

Divided into nine chapters, the book spans the designer's early days in Kolhapur, arrival in Mumbai, her debut in Bollywood with Guru Dutt'd 'CID' in 1953 , running up to the historic moment when she clutched the world renowned golden trophy in 1982.
"Attenborough interviewed me and in 15 minutes, he told the office that he had found a designer. I already had some 20 years of experience working in Hindi cinema, but 'Gandhi' was a challenge. We had to capture 50 years of the Mahatma's life in various locations and we could not go wrong because he was an international figure, well known to the world audiences," said Athaiya reminiscing about the project, which turned out to be a milestone in her career.

The artiste continues to work, but had taken a three year break to write the book and has already started work on her second tome.

"While putting together the book, I realised that it is not possible to contain my work in just one book. So I started work on my second book and I am also working on some Marathi films," said Athaiya.