Doshi

Random Review: MBA Student, IIMB

2010-09-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

My batch mate: Sir, what’s the idea behind the architecture of IIMB?
B. V. Doshi: What do you feel? Do you feel free or confined…
My batch mate : Free
B.V. Doshi : Can you see the sunlight changing through the sky? Can you see the shadows playing inside? Do you feel inside the classroom or outside ?

The auditorium erupted in claps…it was the QnA session with Mr. B.V. Doshi after the screening of the movie ‘Doshi’ by Mr.Premjit Ramachandran at the auditorium of IIM Bangalore. Mr. Premjit and Mr. Bijoy Ramachandran, both were present too.

Now, back to the man and the evening. Have you ever felt to really thank God that you were given the opportunity to be somewhere where you would have wanted to be? I felt that way. The word privilege is just not enough. I could actually relate to her daughter when she said in movie that she just felt blessed. Blessings it was. Here was a man sitting in front of us who is undoubtedly one of India’s finest architect,one who has achieved almost everything in life the way he wanted, one who shakes the inside of you while speaking of frugality and simplicity and the heritage of India, yet listen to the words in which he describes himself -

“I am not an architect, that’s the problem…I am not an architect. For me it’s a search, only a search. Search for that unknown that I have not known, neither I know how it will manifest. That’s actually the essence of my work. It begins somewhere, ends somewhere. And in that process, I grow and the work grows. We grow together.”

There was no doubt that to be there inside the marvellous IIM Bangalore campus and listen to the man who created it, was an inexplicable feeling. It was mixing of so many emotions, like the way his designs let sunshine, shadows, breeze, rhythm and freedom to form a subtle harmony. You needn’t be an architect to feel this. Instead the feeling it could grow inside you or me or anyone is one of his greatest achievements, in my point of view.The movie depicted various stages of his life, his early struggle, his achievements in subsequent phases, his lifestyle, his family, his home and many many people awed and inspired and felt blessed by him. But what struck me most what his ideology. He talks about India being not centric, it being the best in achieving beauty through frugality. You could not only see but feel the simplicity. When he talks about God and its creation you feel pious inside. Like when he says–when you make a home for someone, think it as the man’s temple to offer prayer to God. How can you make his temple bad just because he is not so rich? Or when he says- all human beings are inherently compassionate and loveable animal, highly sophisticated. It opens up new horizons in your mind, lets new light come in. Another instance was when in replying to one question he said that the idea of using the word ‘home’ instead of ‘flat’ could actually bring the change in present material mindset towards housings. He told the importance of trees and steps in architecture to him as they tell him about the childhood days. Such simple thinking is so rare to see nowadays. I think his answer to the enquiry about his favourite architectural instance sums these all up best. His answer was - “My home”.

It would never end discussing the man and his life and the evening. I can go on and on and on… but all good things come to an end. So, here are three quotes to draw the curtains…..

“I have learned from Doshi the way to be ….yourself….always” - An admirer (I apologize for my failing memory)

“I think architecture is a matter of transformation. Transformation of all adverse situations into favourable conditions” – B.V.Doshi

“See Corbusier told me once, which I think is important that, even where there is somebody standing behind you, who is better than you and you are answerable to him” – B.V.Doshi

Architect Africa Film Festival 2010

2010-09-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

"Doshi" in South Africa, five cities.

Full film online

2010-08-03T05:49:00.000-07:00

Link.

Doshi/Bristol

2010-06-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

In association with Arnolfini, this is the first in a series of screenings which will introduce key international architects.

A labour of love for its director, Premjit Ramachandran, this is an insightful and much-needed portrait of the low-cost-housing pioneer and architect Balkrishna Doshi. Doshi has led the evolution of contemporary Indian architecture, interpreting the modernist ideals of his former boss, Le Corbusier, and working within the constraints of the local conditions of site, climate and available technology.

Link.

Ashokan's letter

2010-06-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Review: Sydney Morning Herald

2010-05-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

The film “Doshi” follows the life and work of the famous Indian Architect Balkrishna Doshi and was conceived directed and scored by Premjit Ramachandran and Bijoy Ramachandran of 100hands who are based in Bangalore.

Doshi worked with Louis Kahn and Le Corbusier, two of the giants of 20th century architecture. Both had a profound effect on his work and life and modern day India, however he has sought to reinterpret this modernism of Europe and America to local conditions and climate, site and available technology.

At 81 years old Doshi is still very much engaged in building and in life and we are offered more than a simple outline of his work. The film and commentary give you an insight into the history and transformation of one of the 21st Centuries superpowers and the means by which its people have moved from a relatively agrarian and feudal society into a modern and technologically advanced country. It does so through the medium of architecture but I imagine the same may be applied to many areas of intellectual and technological activity.

Le Corbusier went to India to design Chandigarh, a capital city for the newly created state of the Punjab, and a post-independence symbol of progress and modernity. Doshi was a young architect at the time and worked for Le Corbusier on this and other projects in India. He thoroughly learned the lessons of modernism, but in time has modified these models with his particular understandings of the Indian way of life and its people. "India", he suggests contemplatively, "has survived and celebrated through a particular frugalness... by ingeniously finding several ways of using the same thing", this can be applied to clothing, furniture, buildings, music and technology.

His own office Sagath which in Sanskrit means moving together through participation is in essence a village, “trees, gardens and steps” and offers a real insight into how the outside world and influences are consumed, understood and reconstituted as his own. In this building or more accurately institution, you can see the influences, Chinese mosaic, Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, “everything is there.... It is like a good food that you enjoy but made by the best chefs, But you are the one that is digesting this food. You have to convert this into your own blood and your own life.. Borrow everything and finally become yourself" ... Gandhi put it this way, “open the windows but see that your roof is not blown out, make sure that the foundations are strong. “…. You have to be deep inside an Indian who is frugal, who can invent, who can take a chance and who can starve”.

His institutional buildings, his schools, his low cost housing, his own home, all show a profound understanding of architecture but also of people, how they live and connect. He is full of reverence and with an Indian take on the meaning of "God", who is still profoundly wound up with his belief system and understanding of life.

“Life is to be lived not regulated” he states. But he has concerns for the future, he laments that much of the architects time is now taken up with mundane survival. “What can you give me, for how much money and in how much time?” The pragmatism of modern capitalism is also being felt in Doshi’s life and work. He notes that increasingly we are interested in conclusions; we have no time to understand process. “How can you enjoy the food if you have not aware of how it was cooked and how it all came together.”

He also asks us to consider the future and the past comparatively. How did people in the past have such profound understandings of material, scale, the size and even the kind of elaboration and joy of working you witness in ancient monuments? A place to sit, a place to rest your hand, “how come we do not think of this public realm today?” he asks.

In modern India he laments the lack of institutions, of communities, of civic spaces that inspire you. “What will we have to show as our heritage, our contemporary heritage? Yes you may have a beautiful house but what is outside it? What kind of street? Car parking, hotels, entertainment of a cheap type... we want to be alone isolated and enjoy ourselves, socially relevant architecture I do not think we have anymore, institutional architecture is gone.”

The architectural profession has become submissive and has nothing to do with society at large, Doshi feels, and apart from rare instances this is may also be true in our own society. What value to we place on the public realm? This is a beautiful film that offers some very relevant insights into the production of great architecture, institutions and what age and wisdom brings to a truly creative life.

Link.

Doshi / BNCA / Pune

2009-11-26T02:41:00.000-08:00

'Doshi' was screened in Pune at the IUCAA Auditorium on the 22nd of November. Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College for Architecture for Women (BNCA) organized the event. The film was shown with 'Beginnings' and 'Karma' as bookends. Mr. BV. Doshi, Mr. Samar Nakhate, Mr. Nachiket Patwardhan and the two of us discussed the film after the show. BNCA has initiated an annual Kanvinde Memorial Lecture and this was the inaugural event along with a lecture by Mr. Doshi on Mr. Achyut Kanvinde's work.

Building Design, London

2009-10-19T05:18:00.000-07:00

Doshi
Directed by Premjit Ramachandran
100 Hands
4 Stars

Doshi, directed by Bangalore-based film-maker Premjit Ramachandran, captures the intense energy and enigma behind the seminal Indian architect, now 82. Gripping interviews with Balkrishna Doshi, his former students, practitioners (including Graham Morrison of Allies & Morrison) and family members deal with critical questions on working as an architect within the Indian context.

Doshi has made an immense contribution to contemporary practice and polemic in India, which has been well documented in two monographs and countless publications. What is different about the film is that it is also about the philosophical underpinnings that inform the stuff of life, where architecture has a small but significant place.

Doshi looks with almost mystical wonder at the sequence of events that has led to where he is today. He stumbled into studying architecture at the suggestion of a schoolteacher. Later he travelled to London in 1951 to find himself participating in the activities of the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM). There he was offered his first job with Le Corbusier in Paris, who was designing Chandigarh at the time.

“Corbusier had a profound impact on Doshi”, says Ramachandran, “but he has always sought to interpret Corbusier’s modernism through local conditions of site, climate and available technology.”

Apart from the practice of architecture, his most significant achievements include setting up two important institutions in Ahmedabad, Gujarat: the Centre for Environment, Planning & Technology (CEPT) in 1962, one of India’s best architecture schools; and the Vastu Shilpa Foundation in 1972, which conducts pioneering research into sustainability, traditional Indian settlements and available technology. He was also responsible for inviting Louis Kahn to design a campus for the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

The conversations explore the ideological foundations that ground his work. Sustainability, which is fundamental to his thinking, is practised in a holistic way ingeniously working with not only local climate, topography, availability of materials and skills — as seen at Sangath, his studio — but also in the adaptive quality of the built environment. Here the ability for incremental growth means that communities can thrive over generations without losing architectural quality — as seen at the LIC housing project in Ahmedabad.

This aspect, completely alien to UK nimbyism, is also not easily found in the works of Doshi’s contemporaries in India. His fascination with how people behave in public space, including memories of his own childhood “always wanting to be outside, playing” gave spatial order to the campus for CEPT and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. It was here that he set up the right conditions for social interaction between students.

“His ability to at once tackle architecture as both a modern structured and rigorous artefact as well as an intangible, archaic and philosophical idea made the work seem more rooted than his contemporaries,” says Bijoy Ramachandran, who conceived and researched the film.

The film ends with Doshi at Sarkhej, an ambitious 15th century “heritage” complex in Gujarat, asking larger questions on the role of the professional in making a socially relevant architecture, where communities can rejoice in the public realm. Submissiveness to the developer is not a problem restricted to India only, and so his question gains an international significance: “What, ideologically, is our contemporary heritage?”

The film’s only missed opportunity is that it fails to acknowledge the team behind the name. Some of the testimonies are reminiscent of those in My Architect, the film about Louis Kahn, where mesmerised individuals fervently eulogise the film’s subject, which viewers may find difficult. Despite this, the critical content, delectable cinematography and musical score leave you inspired.

Link.

Press 2

2009-10-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

Press

2009-08-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

Sale

2009-05-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

The DVD (+Audio CD) will be available for sale from the 15th of May. Contact Hundredhands at 080-25593606 (or email touch@hundredhands.com) to get hold of a copy. :)

The Final Cut

2009-05-03T07:47:00.001-07:00

The film is now officially complete. No more going back to the drawing board. All the drawing is done, the hands have tired. We went back to the original cut, made it a little tighter (its now 74 minutes long) and added a few more photographs, done a bit of juggling in the structure. I must say its looking quite nice now. I have seen the film over a 100 times and I still enjoy Mr. D's voice (and Bijoy and me know every single word in the film).

There was a screening at MLR Convention Centre on the 1st of May. The response was fantastic. The students loved it and we had a lovely Q&A after. These things feel good. Unfortunately Bijoy wasn't there with me. I took Prakash along instead. We are planning another bigger screening on the 15th. Lets see if it pans out. The DVD's will be available for sale. And as a special extra, it comes along with the original soundtrack of the film and two short films on Doshi's beginnings and his outlook on the Bharat Diamond Bourse collapse. Both very engaging, even more thanks to Mr. Trent Reznor's themes.

So, there...

15 and a half months later...

2009-01-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

So, today seems like another little milestone in this Doshi project. I managed to finally find the solution for this nagging problem. The film is now complete and we are going to send a copy to Mr. D tomorrow. I hope he likes it and I hope he understands where we are coming from re: the insertion of his failure with the Bharat Diamond Bourse into the film. It makes him human. Earlier the film was a glory picture, he came across like God.

We also applied for the Jan Vrijman fund in Amsterdam. If that comes through we'll have some money to do the audio post-production and final mix. Lets see what's in store for us.

A precious new 8 minutes...

2009-01-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

Doshi from Premjit Ramachandran on Vimeo.

And so...

2008-12-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

...our journey begins again.

Tra La La

2008-12-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a 5-day film-bazaar event in Goa. Lots of big names were there. While I chatted and chin-chined with Shaji N. Karun, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Anurag Kashyap and Mr. Shyam Benegal, I realised its a long road. To get anywhere. Recognition is more than just a drink with the boys. There are, apparently, over 50,000 documentary filmmakers in India. All trying to bite into the distribution pie. "Sell my film, its good", they all say. So much promise. No avenues. We are, after all, step-sons and step-daughters of the Indian film industry. There are no trifle puddings for us. But someday something will happen. Our film is finding it so hard to make an entry into the Landmarks and Crosswords of India. On a crossroads. Which way now? When people like Shaji Karun come to such an event pitching their project for funding what chance does a little-known to almost unknown filmmaker like me have? God bless us. God bless Mr. Doshi for opening his doors to us. Thank God for that. Just that is enough. :)

IN NYC

2008-10-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

2008-09-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

"A man is rich, directly in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let go."
Henry David Thoreau

2008-09-10T05:21:00.001-07:00

Overwhelming...

2008-09-02T00:13:00.001-07:00

...to see over 600 people attend the screening of the film. It was truly a great day. The papers wrote about us and the film, people recognised us and it was praise for the film all the way. Everyone seemed really touched by it and some of them even said it was better than "My Architect" which, for me, is a great compliment. God is great. More such experiences please.

I will keep updating this blog with future screenings in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Delhi. These are good times. :)

2008-08-16T07:22:00.001-07:00

70mm

2008-08-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

It was the most loveliest feeling to watch Doshi on a 70mm screen (and in India's first multiplex). Very satisfying. Epic. To suit his scale. Gorgeous. His story needs to be seen/heard. He is like Pi. Everlasting.

The premiere is on the 30th of August, 6:30pm at City Pulse, Gandhinagar. I can't wait.

2008-07-24T13:20:00.001-07:00

Its 2am, I have just finished watching the final cut on DVD post colour correction, audio mastering, etc.
I am very happy.
God is great. God bless D.

D/C

2008-07-21T23:08:00.001-07:00

...and one more

2008-07-10T12:03:00.001-07:00

2008-07-10T11:57:00.001-07:00

2008-07-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

So, Doshi, his wife and daughter Radhika arrived in Bangalore yesterday and we had a screening of the film in my place. They absolutely loved it. A round of applause from them was quite a touching moment. :) God bless him.

2008-07-03T02:01:00.000-07:00

...working
in architecture
in many respects
is
really more
a working on oneself,
on one’s own interpretation,
on one’s own way of seeing things.

LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN

C

2008-06-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

We have been very fortunate. Bijoy and me got to spend 3 hours with Mr. Charles Correa and the experience we had was absolutely unreal. I dont think it would be fair to put it in words. We discussed so many things from films to music to living in Japan to handloom. It was amazing. He was a bit uncomfortable in the beginning but as he got to know us he warmed up to us and finally even said he would like to say something personally to Doshi on camera. Here is a screenshot of it. What did he say? Well, you will have to come to the premiere to find out. :)

2008-06-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

The world is the stage, the world is the audience.

Further

2008-06-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Just when things seemed to be settling down we have suddenly begun to feel the need to invite more people to this party. With reactions now coming from all corners we are keen to take this even further. We have lined up new interviews in Bombay and hopefully in Delhi. This will give us a chance to also visit a few of the projects there. Prem and I do have reservations about turning this into a biopic in the true sense with a story of the beginnings and the trajectory of Doshi's career. His philosophy, and his unique ability to inspire are compelling lessons for architects. The academic investigation of his architecture and his practice will need to remain a separate project.

Tea

2008-06-10T12:37:00.003-07:00

Just felt like posting this. It has nothing to do with architecture or Mr. D. I just think its beautiful.

----

I like pouring your tea, lifting
the heavy pot, and tipping it up,
so the fragrant liquid streams in your china cup.

Or when you're away, or at work,
I like to think of your cupped hands as you sip,
as you sip, of the faint half-smile of your lips.

I like the questions – sugar? – milk? –
and the answers I don't know by heart, yet,
for I see your soul in your eyes, and I forget.

Jasmine, Gunpowder, Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon,
I love tea's names. Which tea would you like? I say
but it's any tea for you, please, any time of day,

as the women harvest the slopes
for the sweetest leaves, on Mount Wu-Yi,
and I am your lover, smitten, straining your tea.

----

Carol Ann Duffy

Official Trailer

2008-06-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the new 3-minute preview for the Doshi film. A celebration of life. :)

2008-06-04T00:48:00.001-07:00

When Yves Saint Laurent retired, he said: "I have known fear and the terrors of solitude. I have known those fair-weather friends we call tranquilizers and drugs. I have known the prison of depression and the confinement of hospital. But one day, I was able to come through all of that, dazzled yet sober."

2008-06-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

Of light. The new opening theme for the Doshi film.

2008-05-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

2008-05-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

"Beauty is the reward of the unintended. Nothing ages more rapidly than art which strains towards immortality from the moment of inception. The most durable works grow out of the moment, are marked by it. And while they are linked to the moment, they are pledged to the future. There is no true work of art that is not primarily related to the present from which it arose; and none that is related only to the present."
Peter Ruedi

2008-05-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

2008-05-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

"For me its a search, search for that unknown which I have not known, neither I know how it will manifest. That's actually the essence of my work."

Progressing very well. I think we may have something special in our hands. :)

Goodmorning Sunshine

2008-05-09T05:12:00.000-07:00

We are not sure how many of you read this. Thanks anyway. To both of you. :)
The film is progressing wonderfully. We now have a deadline. Mr. D's birthday, 26th August. We are planning a big premier at CEPT on August 29th. A beautifully designed poster will start doing the rounds soon. God bless us.
So far, the Indology, Shreyas and LIC and the final Sarkhej vignettes are complete. They all have come out better than I expected. So far its been the most wonderful experience. Ever!

@ INDOLOGY

2008-04-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

2008-03-31T09:31:00.001-07:00

As he faced the sun, he cast no shadow.

@IIMA

2008-03-31T01:14:00.000-07:00

Shape

2008-03-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

The process finally began today at around 2 pm, post lunch. I started with the edit of the Shreyas School footage. We had over an hour of footage of the school. It began really slowly and then suddenly something happened. It just started to flow. And once I placed "Blackbird" over the cut it just looked and sounded "right". Out of the 40 minute interview with Mrs. Leena Mangaldas, I must have used about 1 minute. Ruthless as hell. That's the only way to be. Only Mr. D gets the limelight. He is really the greatest performer. (In a good way). So here goes... LIC housing today. Wish me luck.

The Arrival

2008-03-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Doshi Arrived in India as part of the team supervising Le Corbusier's projects first in Chandigarh and subsequently in Ahmedabad. Nehru's invitation to Corbusier to design India's first truly modern city fundamentally altered the nature of patronage and architectural practice in India. Till then the architect (or chief mason) was largely uncredited and the work was seen solely as a result of the patron's vision. Corbusier's celebrity status as a visionary architect was a new paradigm and Doshi's subsequent rise as a practitioner and instigator of large scale institution building in Ahmedabad may in some part be a result of the change in the way people perceived the role of an architect.
Doshi's real contribution is not so much in the formulation of a 'theory' of building but in the orchastration of patronage to serve the community through the inception of institutions like CEPT and to some extent NID & IIM-A.

Genesis

2008-03-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

So here is a brief note on the genesis of this film:
In 2005 I made a documentary on the state of Architecture in Bangalore as seen by 25 of its most prominant practitioners. Made with a small handheld camera and no sound equipment the film was tough to watch and even tougher to hear, but the process of juxtaposing ideas and opinions from different people together on the same topic made it seem like a conversation. The film found an afterlife as an introduction to private practice at some architecture schools and in transcript form at Anand Bhatt's Architexturez (http://www.architexturez.net/+/subject-listing/000070.shtml). Prof. Chhaya of CEPT suggested I do a similar film on Ahmedabad and it got me thinking about Doshi. Maybe we needed to have a conversation about him, his critical works, his ideas about life and his relevance today.
I worked at Doshi's office for a year (95-96) and was a great fan of his. He had a take on things which was at once very modern and ancient. His work had influenced a whole generation of architects and I was always amazed at how diverse his work was and how consistently interesting. He was also the only one from his generation who was presenting the work (especially in the later projects) in a very unusual way - talking about myths, creating narratives steeped in imagined histories and locating key architectural moves as a reaction to these. This ability to at once tackle architecture as both a modern, structured and rigorous artifact as well as an intangible, archaic and philosophical idea made the work seem more rooted than those of his contemporaries. He seemed to be the perfect candidate for a film - his experiences would include working with Le Corbusier, starting an architecture school, setting up a foundation, and being the quintessential family man.
So as soon as Prem returned to India we decided to begin and on a whim we made a trip to Ahmedabad. Reaching there on a Sunday night I made my first call to Doshi.

The Edit

2008-03-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

While watching some footage today Prem was reminded of Prof. Levy from Crimes & Misdemeanors
Professor Levy: You will notice that what we are aiming at when we fall in love is a very strange paradox. The paradox consists of the fact that, when we fall in love, we are seeking to re-find all or some of the people to whom we were attached as children. On the other hand, we ask our beloved to correct all of the wrongs that these early parents or siblings inflicted upon us. So that love contains in it the contradiction: The attempt to return to the past and the attempt to undo the past.

Music as a trajectory

2008-03-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

So Prakash, one of Bangalore's best musicians, is going to help me with the score for the film. He has also agreed to source live musicians, tabla players, violin players etc to help out with the score. We talked about the film yesterday and after seeing the trailer he was really enthusiastic about composing something special. Everything to do with this film needs to be special. God bless us. x

Doshi with Corbusier (Circa 1950)

2008-03-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

2008-03-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

This time the joke is on me. The test is on. The surfaces are clearer but my sights are limited. On one plane we have the tremendous benefit of knowledge and on the other the phenomenal burden of statement. How does one balance on this tight rope? Do you look back at the beginning or do you look ahead? The future is a blank page. Sometimes its in the sink. Caution. Tread carefully. The rope is not always made of steel.

2008-03-14T03:13:00.000-07:00

This is a tough homecoming. Having spent time with Doshi I now realise how small my ambition is, how insignificant my plans. The soaring roofs of the Shreyas classrooms stand for the grand ambition of the young 30 year old architect in his first major commission. Threads from here link all his later work and show the same concern for fundamentally reinterpreting the way we inhabit space.

2008-03-14T03:01:00.001-07:00

We are all so miopic.

Thoughts

2008-03-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

So I have been sitting and importing all the footage and I am so amazed with what we have. He is truly a legend. To imagine that his most iconic works were done when he was just 35 is quite amazing. I am going to be 35 in two years. Where am I going? Do you feel the same way? The harsh reality of mediocrity worries me. Who is watching me? Questions, questions...

2008-03-13T12:07:00.001-07:00

"While there has been earlier documentation on Doshi's work, it has largely been in the form of books and magazine articles. While this may capture the qualitative values of Doshi's work, it does not adequately capture Doshi's personality or his role and influence on the architectural profession in India. He was the person responsible for bringing Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn to India. In the early years after India gained independence from colonial rule, he is one of a handful of seminal figures who set the tone in exploring architecture's capacity to come to terms with the sense of modernity sought by this nascent nation. He set the benchmark for architectural education through his founding role in the Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology in Ahmedabad. He has not remained confined to the architectural idiom of his early career, and his work has continued to evolve substantively through his constant questioning of fundamentals in architecture. But what is striking about Doshi is the fact that his passion, enthusiasm and desire to learn have remained unabated even today." - Prem Chandavarkar, Chandavarkar & Thacker Architects

The Beginnings

2008-03-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

So, the story begins here. I am nervous. Will I be able to do justice to this great personality with the film. We have approximately 24 hours of footage on the film. The real journey begins now. Its all chop-chop. No one compares. All voices stay in the background. Go, mordecai!