Ismail Merchant
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Ismail Merchant (December 25, 1936 – May 25, 2005) was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his famously long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Their films won six Academy Awards.
Ivory was also Merchant's long-term life partner [1].
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[edit] Background
Born Ismail Noormohamed Abdul Rehman, he was the son of Hazra Memon and Noormohamed Haji Abdul Rehman, a Mumbai Memon textile dealer. He studied at St. Xavier's College, Bombay [2]. When he was 22, he traveled to the United States to study at New York University, where he earned an M.B.A..
In 1961, he made a short film, The Creation of Woman. It was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and also received an Academy Award nomination.
[edit] Merchant Ivory Productions
In 1961, Merchant created the film production company, Merchant Ivory Productions, with James Ivory. Until Merchant's death in 2005, the company produced a number of award winning films. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was the screenwriter for most of their productions. They made close to 40 films together. Their partnership has a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest partnership in independent cinema history.
In 1963, MIP premiered its first production, The Householder, based upon a novel by Jhabvala (she also wrote the screenplay). This feature became the first Indian-made film to be distributed internationally by a major American studio, Columbia Pictures.
In addition to producing, Merchant has directed a number of films and two television features. For television, he directed a short feature entitled Mahatma and the Mad Boy, and a full-length television feature, The Courtesans of Bombay made for Britain’s Channel Four. Merchant made his own directorial debut with 1993's In Custody based on a novel by Anita Desai, and starring Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor. It was filmed in Bhopal, India, and went on to win National Awards from the Government of India for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Costume and Best Production Design. His second directing feature, "The Proprietor," starred Jeanne Moreau, Sean Young, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Christopher Cazenove and was filmed on location in Paris.
Of his partnership with Ivory and Jhabvala, Merchant once commented: "It is a strange marriage we have at Merchant Ivory...I am an Indian Muslim, Ruth is a German Jew, and Jim is a Protestant American. Someone once described us as a three-headed god. Maybe they should have called us a three-headed monster!" [3].
[edit] Cooking
Fond of cooking, he wrote several books on the art including Ismail Merchant’s Indian Cuisine; Ismail Merchant’s Florence; Ismail Merchant’s Passionate Meals and Ismail Merchant’s Paris: Filming and Feasting in France. He also wrote books on film-making, including a book about the making of the film The Deceivers in 1988 called Hullabaloo in Old Jeypur, and another about the making of The Proprietor called Once Upon a Time . . . The Proprietor. His most recent book is entitled, My Passage From India: A Filmmaker’s Journey from Bombay to Hollywood and Beyond.
[edit] Awards
In 2002, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
[edit] Death
Merchant died in London, aged 68, following surgery for abdominal ulcers[4].
He was buried in the Bada Kabrestan in Marine Lines, Mumbai, on 28 May 2005, in keeping with his wish to be laid to rest with his ancestors.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Director
- The Mystic Masseur (2002)
- Cotton Mary (1999)
- The Proprietor (1996)
- Lumière and Company (1995, segment "Merchant Ivory, Paris") co-director with James Ivory
- In Custody(1993) (feature debut)
- The Courtesans of Bombay (1983, documentary)
- Mahatma and the Mad Boy (1974, short)
[edit] Producer
- The White Countess (2005)
- Heights (2004)
- Le Divorce (2003)
- Merci Docteur Rey (2002)
- The Golden Bowl (2001)
- Cotton Mary (2000)
- A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)
- Side Streets (1998) - executive producer
- Surviving Picasso (1996)
- Lumière and Company (1995, segment)
- Jefferson in Paris (1995)
- Feast of July (1995) - executive producer
- The Remains of the Day (1993)
- Howards End (1991)
- Street Musicians of Bombay (1991) - executive producer
- Mr & Mrs Bridge (1990)
- The Ballad of the Sad Café (1990)
- Slaves of New York (1989)
- The Perfect Murder (1988) - executive producer
- The Deceivers (1988)
- Maurice (1987)
- My Little Girl (1986) - executive producer
- A Room with a View (1985)
- Noon Wine (1985, TV) - executive producer (not Merchant Ivory)
- The Bostonians (1984)
- Heat and Dust (1983)
- The Courtesans of Bombay (1983) - also director
- Quartet (1981)
- Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
- The Europeans (1979)
- Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures (1976)
- Roseland (1977)
- Sweet Sounds (1976, short)
- The Wild Party (1975)
- Autobiography of a Princess (1975)
- Mahatma and the Mad Boy (1974, short) - also director
- Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls (1973, short)
- Savages (1973)
- Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization (1972, TV)
- Bombay Talkie (1970)
- The Guru (1969)
- Shakespeare Wallah (1965)
- The Householder (1963)
- The Creation of Woman (1960, short)
