Bhanu Athaiya (née Rajopadhye; 28 April 1929 – 15 October 2020) was an Indian costume designer and painter.

[2][3] Alongside being Bollywood's most iconic costume designer, she had a historically important early career as an artist with contemporaries like M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza and Vasudeo S.

[6] After her switch from art to cinema, Bhanu went on to become one of the leading creators of the aesthetic of a young India through her work on costumes for Bollywood films.

(1956), Pyaasa (1957), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), Guide (1965), Amrapali (1966), Teesri Manzil (1966), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1979), Razia Sultan (1983), Chandni (1989), Lekin... (1990), 1942: A Love Story (1993), Lagaan (2001),[7] and Swades (2004).

She also worked on international projects with directors such Conrad Rooks in Siddhartha (1972) and Richard Attenborough in Gandhi (1982).

Athaiya's father, Annasaheb was a self-taught artist and photographer who worked in the films of Baburao Painter.

She studied at Sir J J School of Art, Mumbai, where she won the Usha Deshmukh Gold medal in 1951 for the artwork titled 'Lady In Repose'.

in 1956,[20] and followed it up with other Guru Dutt films such as Pyaasa (1957), Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962).

[32] In 2012, Bhanu was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which eventually lead to her suffering paralysis on one side of the body and was bed-ridden for the last three years of her life.