Who was the First Indian to Win an Oscar?
The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, are a number of awards given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. to the achievers in the film industries. They were first given in 1929 and the winners received “a gold-plated statuette” which is called the Oscar.
Academy awards are presented to films from Hollywood and international cinema as well. Even though not many Indians have won the award, there are few who walked away with it.
Bhanu Athaiya is the first Indian to have won the Oscar. The costume designer won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design as she worked in the film Gandhi (1982) with John Mollo.
Bhanu Athaiya is an Indian costume designer who has worked in more than 100 films. She has worked with great Indian directors like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Ashutosh Gowariker, Yash Chopra and internationally with Conrad Rooks and Richard Attenborough.
She started her career as a costume designer for films in C.I.D. in 1956. Since then she has got huge success in Bollywood as well as in Hollywood. She has also won two National Film Awards in 1991 and 2002. She was so great at what she did that a tribute was made to her work at the opening ceremony of the South Asian International Film Festival,New York.
It was in March of 2010 when Athaiya released her book called the “The Art of Costume Design” which was published by Harper Collins.
It has been reported that BhanuAthaiya wished that her Oscar could be returned as according to her, the family would not able to take enough care of the trophy after she dies. Late on December 15 2012, it was reported that the award was returned to The Academy.
Team at World Infi