Ismail Merchant Movies

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

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...

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

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

"Roseland" is made up of three stories, sometimes connecting, all set in the famed New York City dance palace, and all having the same theme: finding...

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

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...

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.

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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