“Shakespeare Wallah” was my introduction to the magic of Merchant Ivory Productions. An elegy for a lost era, a bitter-sweet tale about a traveling English theatre troupe in India after Indian independence, is still vivid in my memory. The debonair Shashi Kapoor, and Satyajit Ray’s beautiful score are the two other things that I remember from the film. Since then, I have seen other Merchant Ivory productions and have always felt simultaneously reassured and disturbed.
A constant in all of their movies has been the excellent production values, largely a product of Mr. Merchant’s vision, and his acknowledged genius for creating beautiful authentic sets on a shoestring budget. With the demise of Ismail, we no longer have the producer who fussed over each detail.
The troika of James Ivory, Ruth Prawer Jhabwala, and Ismail Merchant have over the past four decades virtually invented a new genre of films and created nothing less than a new way of film-making. Their ‘success’ – nominally thought of ability to produce films out of the main stream- have brought a sense of hope and assurance to countless independent filmmakers. They have proven that you don’t need to compromise on art to be successful.
James and Ismail fought incessantly, but always remained honest to their art, and always found a way to produce the film they wanted. To me that defines the legacy of Merchant Ivory – their single-minded pursuit to create movies that they wanted to create. I will forever be indebted to their patience, art, and virtue.
Further Reading -
BBC article on Ismail Merchant