Ismail Merchant

Ismail Merchant born 25 December 1936 (d. 2005)

Ismail Merchant 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 Merchant's long-term life partner.

Born Ismail Noormohamed Abdul Rehman, he was the son of a Mumbai Memon textile dealer. He studied at St Xavier's College, Bombay. When he was 22, he travelled to the United States to study at New York University, where he earned an MBA.

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.

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 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!'

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. His final book was entitled, My Passage From India: A Filmmaker’s Journey from Bombay to Hollywood and Beyond.

Merchant died unexpectedly in London, aged 68, following surgery for abdominal ulcers.

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