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Ismail Merchant

Highest Rated: 100% A Room With a View (1986)

Lowest Rated: 0% Merci Docteur Rey (2002)

Birthday: Dec 25, 1936

Birthplace: Bombay, Maharashtra, India

Bombay-born producer Ismail Merchant was one half of the prolific Merchant/Ivory team, responsible for an oeuvre of handsome and thoughtful independent films reflecting an eye for the beautiful and an ear for the carefully wrought line of dialogue. Along with Oregon-raised director James Ivory and the German-raised screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (a Polish Jew educated in Britain and married to an Indian), he is actually part of a triumvirate, perhaps best described by the Hindi word "sangam," meaning "meeting of three rivers," in this case Asia, Europe and North America. Merchant was introduced to Ivory in 1961 when the producer was 24 and the director was 32. The pair shared a common collaborator, Saeed Jaffrey, who had narrated both Merchant's Oscar-nominated 1960 short "The Creation of Woman" and Ivory's short film "The Sword and the Flute" (1961). Meeting at a screening for the latter, the two eventually formed Merchant-Ivory Productions (MIP) to make English-language features in India for the international market. Their first film, "The Householder" (1963) was adapted by Jhabvala from her novel.

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Highest rated movies

100% 85% A Room With a View
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96% 89% The Remains of the Day
Watchlist 94% 81% Howards End Watchlist
89% 66% Shakespeare Wallah
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82% 45% Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
Watchlist 82% 87% Maurice Watchlist
80% 72% A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries
Watchlist 79% 58% Heat and Dust Watchlist
67% 62% In Custody
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63% 74% Heights
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Ismail Merchant

Ismail Merchant IN CUSTODY, director Ismail Merchant, on-set, 1993, © Sony Pictures Classics COTTON MARY, James Wilby (left), director Ismail Merchant (center) on-set, 1999, © Artistic License A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES, producer Ismail Merchand, director James Ivory, on set, 1998. (c) October Films. LE DIVORCE, Producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory on the set, 2003, (c) Fox Searchlight MYSTIC MASSEUR, director Ismail Merchant, 2001, photo: Mikki Ansin / © ThinkFilm / View more photos

Filmography

Movies

Credit
51% 50% The White Countess Producer $1.7M 2005
63% 74% Heights Producer $1.2M 2005
35% 26% Le Divorce Producer $9.1M 2003
0% 65% Merci Docteur Rey Executive Producer $19.6K 2002
51% 29% The Mystic Masseur Director $398.6K 2001
54% 39% The Golden Bowl Producer $3.0M 2000
36% 43% Cotton Mary Director,
Producer 		$299.4K 1999
No Score Yet No Score Yet Side Streets Executive Producer - 1998
80% 72% A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries Producer $1.8M 1998
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Tree Executive Producer - 1997
32% 60% Surviving Picasso Producer $2.0M 1996
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Proprietor Director $113.6K 1996
60% 50% Feast of July Executive Producer $292.8K 1995
31% 35% Jefferson in Paris Producer $2.5M 1995
67% 62% In Custody Director - 1993
96% 89% The Remains of the Day Producer $23.0M 1993
94% 81% Howards End Producer $157.9K 1992
82% 45% Mr. & Mrs. Bridge Producer $5.0M 1990
22% 70% Slaves of New York Producer $294.4K 1989
82% 87% Maurice Producer $45.9K 1987
100% 85% A Room With a View Producer $12.0M 1986
No Score Yet 64% My Little Girl Executive Producer - 1986
79% 58% Heat and Dust Producer $19.9K 1983
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Courtesans of Bombay Director,
Screenwriter 		- 1983
44% 32% Quartet Producer $12.0K 1981
No Score Yet 25% Roseland Producer - 1977
No Score Yet 15% The Wild Party Producer - 1975
33% 50% Savages Producer - 1972
No Score Yet 25% Bombay Talkie Producer - 1970
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Guru Producer - 1969
89% 66% Shakespeare Wallah Producer $3.6K 1965
No Score Yet 63% The Householder Producer - 1963