India's first Oscar winner Bhanu Athaiya Passes Away At 91

MUMBAI || India's first Oscar winner Bhanu Athaiya died at her home after a prolonged battle with illness, her daughter Radhika Gupta said in a statement. She was 91. Athaiya had won an Oscar for her work in the 1983 film Gandhi.

The last rites took place at the Chandanwadi crematorium in South Mumbai. "She passed away early this morning. Eight years ago, she was diagnosed with a tumour in her brain. For the last three years, she was bedridden because one side (of her body) was paralysed," her daughter was quoted by the media as saying.

Born in Kolhapur, she began her Bollywood career as a costume designer in Hindi cinema with Guru Dutt's 1956 super hit C.I.D. She won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi along with John Mollo. In 2012, Athaiya returned her Oscar to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for safe-keeping.