Draft I – The House of Mr. Sharma
MW 50.01
Type
Date of Creation
2012
Runtime
4m 21s
Dimensions
Language
English
Technique
Credits
Cast: M.N. Sharma, domestic servants
Sound: Mikesch Rohmer
Camera: Maja Weyermann, Shovan Gandhi
Editing, concept, script, director: Maja Weyermann
Provenance
Maja Weyermann Archive, Berlin
Remarks
Draft I – The House of Mr Sharma is a short trailer (4:05) by Maja Weyermann for a planned 30-minute documentary film about the Indian architect M. N. Sharma and his work.
Text: Maja Weyermann, 2012:
The House of Mr Sharma:
M. N. Sharma was born in Lahore in 1923, during the era of the British Raj. He was personally affected by his country achieving independence and being partitioned. As a committed exponent of the International style, he was deeply involved in the planning and construction of the city Chandigarh in the 1950s, along with the architect Le Corbusier.
Located in northwest India and built from 1951 to 1965, Chandigarh is one of the most widely discussed projects by Le Corbusier because it was among the first to demonstrate the limits of western spatial concepts when exported to other cultures.
The House of Mr Sharma will reflect on the oeuvre of M. N. Sharma, starting from his most personal work, his own residence in Chandigarh. The house will serve as the structural basis for developing the filmic narrative. Alongside traces of the past, the film will present details of M. N. Sharma’s current everyday life. These elements provide an indication of how time intervenes not only in human life but also in the apparently “eternal and timeless” nature of modernist architecture and how it alters society’s perception. The film addresses the question: What remains?