Ismail Merchant - A Requiem

Born Ismail Noormohammed Adu Rehman, Ismail Merchant always had a love for the movies. From his days at the St. Xavier's University in Bombay(now Mumbai), Ismail had contacts with the Bollywood film elites. He once invited Nargis(the first Bollywood stars to hail from Allahabad) to speak at his university, but some sharrati students had called Nargis and mentioned that the event had been called off. As the audience waited, Ismail and a friend drove over to her house and found she had not left because of the phone call. They soon ushered her to the stage and the function began. Such was his personal connection with Bollywood and its personalities.

Ismail Merchant produced a plethora of films, most of which were nothing short of remarkable. It seems, Ismail was born to fit into the personable-producer role; however, I wish to focus on his Directorial works, works which were sometimes overlooked due to their simplicity. This was the beauty behind Ismail Merchant's films. Below are some films directed by Merchant. Cotton Mary was co-directed in collaboration with Madhur Jaffrey.

Furthermore, while Shakespeare Wallah was not directed by him, the film serves as a reminder of 1960s Indian film renaissance: music by Satyajit Ray, script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, produced by Ismail Merchant, directed by James Ivory, cinematography by Subrata Mitra, and edited by Amit Bose. Shakespeare Wallah featured a few Hindus, a Jew, a Muslim, and a Christian. The film is representative of the middle-class India which was on the rise after Indian independence. A middle class which transcended religious boundaries and spoke of talents in India in pursuit of making films of a universal appeal. A stark contrast to the Indian films present today.

Style
Ismail Merchant's style of directing was simplicity itself. A kind of simplicity not seen these days: shots often rise and sink at the breath of each scene to show a new perspective of a traditional shot (see Death of Classic Hindi Cinema....). The method ensures the attention of the viewer. Merchant's direction told stories by a turning of pages. Each page is written properly with an intended purpose. The refinements of such a style is present in his latter works: Muhafiz(In Custody) and The Mystic Masseur.

The camera in most of his shots stayed at eye-level for the character in focus. In Muhafiz, the scene exiting the brothel where Deven(Om Puri) and his helper are in an argument, the shot stays at the end of the stairs waiting their arrival. Such waiting is also typical of Merchants shot. A foreshadowing of where the characters will approach. Not that such a style of shooting is unique to Merchant, mind you, but rather, he stuck with the principles of simplicity.

Masterpieces
Muhafiz and The Mystic Masseur were Merhcant's masterpieces in direction. Muhafiz was written in English as In Custody by the half-Bengali half-German prize winning author Anita Desai. In Custody was shortlisted for the 1984 Booker Prize. It told the story of Urdu, the dying language of Mughal India, Nur(Shashi Kapoor), a dying Urdu poet, and Deven(Om Puri), an Urdu professor struggling to capture it all in its last breath. The film beautifully depicts the Mughal India dying in its last breath, loosing the very essence of its rule - its language.

The Mystic Masseur is another great work by Merchant based on a prize winning author. The knighted and Nobel Prize Winner, V.S. Naipaul wrote The Mystic Masseur and captured with it an image of Trinidad which suits Merchant the best - simplicity and beauty. In the book and film, Ganesh(Aasif Mandvi) is a struggling writer/author who takes on the profession of a masseur which, due to its success, provides him with popularity and later a political career. The portrayal of rustic Trinidad is unique and stays with the viewer long after the end of the film.

In both such films, the characters leave in such a manner that leaves you with an emotion. An emotion that cannot be dismissed nor discussed, its void of any words or expression, the film simply "is". Sadly such a manner of story-telling has passed away along with its master Ismail Merchant. Simplicity of story-telling is now void of a story-teller. Ismail Merchant will surely be missed.