Nathaniel Kahn: Spreading a good word

Louis I. Kahn had realised his dream of ?creating a city of the future? on the subcontinent, through the monumental Capital Complex in Dhaka and also, through the IIM campus in Ahmedabad, pouring all his energy and resources to shape these projects.

Now, the illegitimate son of the legendary architect, Nathaniel Kahn, who strove to fathom the ?true Lou? in his evocative documentary My Architect, wants to make a feature film on the two Bengals, primarily for westerners, on ?perception and reality?.

?Calcutta is so intense, it doesn?t allow you to disconnect,? Nathaniel told Metro. He, along with his producer-wife Susan Rose Behr, was in Calcutta with the documentary, which was screened at Jadavpur University, IIT Kharagpur and American Center.

The duo, having toured Bangladesh extensively, plans to return to Calcutta to stitch together a story of the Bengals, with a predominantly local cast, ?peeling off the layers of misconception that prevail in the West?.

Nathaniel, who learnt about Bengal from his father and from Ray movies ? ?the Apu trilogy moves me like nothing else? ? feels he owes it to this place to spread the good word.

?Dad used to tell me funny stories about a Bengali child called Rumi and an elephant called Tubby, a series he conjured himself. He also loved Tagore and was a member of the Tagore Society in his native Philadelphia,? he recalled.

Susan agreed that the subcontinent was the fountainhead of inspiration for the great architect: ?If Louis were to look back upon life, he would be grateful to the people of India and Bangladesh for giving him the opportunity to do those magnificent buildings. He had a great sense of hope.?

Nathaniel felt Louis owed a lot to Bangladesh not just because the people understood his architectural vocabulary, but also since they could identify with his spiritual quest, and Dhaka is where My Architect reaches its climax. ?I too am indebted to the people of Bangladesh and India for making the film on my father possible,? he said.

With Susan, he wants to carry the dialogue forward through their film on Bengal. ?The Capital Complex in Dhaka made us cry like only superlative art can, and I know for sure Calcutta has numerous splendid old structures that could evoke a similar response,? said Louis?s filmmaker son. It?s this emotional connect Nathaniel hopes to capture.