1. Ismail Merchant worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
15 Facts About Ismail Merchant
1. 2.
Ismail Merchant received Academy Award nominations for Best Live Action Short Film for The Creation of a Woman and for Best Picture for A Room with a View, Howards End, and The Remains of the Day.
3.
Ismail Merchant grew up speaking Gujarati, Urdu and Memoni fluently, and he later picked up Arabic and English while at school.
4.
Ismail Merchant's father was the President of the Muslim League and refused to move to Pakistan.
5.
Ismail Merchant later said that he carried memories of "butchery and riots" into adulthood.
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Ismail Merchant studied at St Xavier's College, Mumbai and received BA degree of University of Bombay.
7.
Ismail Merchant supported himself by working as a messenger for the UN in New York and used this opportunity to persuade Indian delegates to fund his film projects.
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In 1961, Ismail Merchant made a short film, The Creation of Woman.
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Ismail Merchant met American movie director James Ivory at a screening in New York of Ivory's documentary The Sword and the Flute in 1959.
10.
Ismail Merchant made his film directorial debut with 1993's In Custody based on a novel by Anita Desai, and starring Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor.
11.
Ismail Merchant's second directing feature, The Proprietor, starred Jeanne Moreau, Sean Young, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Christopher Cazenove and was filmed on location in Paris, France.
12.
Ismail Merchant wrote books on filmmaking, including a book about the making of the film The Deceivers in 1988 titled Hullabaloo in Old Jeypur, and another about the making of The Proprietor called Once Upon a Time.
13.
Ismail Merchant died in Westminster, England aged 68, following surgery for abdominal ulcers.
14.
Ismail Merchant was buried in Bada Qabrastan Mumbai in Marine Lines, Mumbai, India on 28 May 2005, in keeping with his wish to be buried with his ancestors.
15.
Ismail Merchant was a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.