Ismail Merchant Movies

Ismail Merchant's feature directorial debut addresses a subject close to his heart: the expressive Urdu language of Northern India, in danger of...

Britain's top pop artiste, Tom Pickle, travels to Bombay, India, circa 1960s to learn to play the sitar from renowned maestro Ustad Zafar Khan.

The filmmakers and lead actors of The Remains of the Day (1993) discuss how they came to make the film, and the subtle power of its execution.

An expatriated French novelist returns to Paris when she learns that her childhood home is being placed on the auction block.

This short documentary, shot in July 1976 at the Mannes College of Music on Manhattan's Upper East Side, marks the first collaboration between...

After an abandoned young woman in late 19th Century England is taken in by a rural couple with three handsome sons, tragic consequences result.

The story of a family troupe of English actors who travel around the towns and villages in India giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through...

The drama, adapted from a story by Katherine Anne Porter, tells of a Swedish immigrant who arrives on a small Texas farm at the turn of the century...

Historical context for The Remains of the Day.

An English novelist travels to Bombay to watch one of her novels translated to film. She chases after the movie's leading man while the screenwriter...

In the Mumbai, India, tenement community of Pavanpul, young female courtesans sing, dance and perform sexual favors for male clientele. Directors...

Prem, a young school teacher, is arranged married and begins the journey of learning the roles and responsibilities required of him.

Documentary about Merchant Ivory Productions, including interviews with the principals of the film production company and actors which have appeared...

Off-camera, a Western traveler tells us of hearing singing from his hotel window in Bombay. He searches for the source, and discovers a caste of...

A British family is trapped between culture, tradition, and the colonial sins of the past.

Circa 1940 in Trinidad, still a British Colony, lives Ganesh Ramseyor, of East Indian origin, along with his wife, Leela. He longs to reach out to...

Nirad C. Chaudhuri expounds his views on culture, history, religion and society from a comparative perspective.