Ismail Merchant Movies

A documentary about making The Remains of the Day.

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.

A tribe of primitive "mudpeople" encounter a croquet ball, rolling through their forest. Following it, they find themselves on a vast, deserted Long...

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

A legendary collection of miniature paintings have been locked up in the storeroom of an Indian palace for years; the collection's fame attracts a...

Looks at the musical extravaganzas which constitute the main bulk of commercial cinema in India; in particular at the career of Helen, the undisputed...

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...

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

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

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

Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece the Apu Trilogy is widely considered one of the most important works in cinema history. In 1992, Ray was awarded the...

In the time frame of a single day (from dawn to dust), the film records the wanderings of an Indian youth who sleeps on the beach, holds...

This 14-minute film talks about the Hindu god Brahma's creation of life, the world and of course the first woman. Saeed Jaffrey narrates the story as...

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

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

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...