From The Hindu
MetroPlus
Thursday, February 27, 2003
NO HEAT, NO DUST, A CHARMER IN CUSTODY
ZIYA
US SALAM speaks to Ismail Merchant who undertakes a literary
journey from Bombay to Hollywood in "My Passage from India," releasing
in New Delhi this week. A beguiling film-maker, an honest writer...
THIS
MAN is nothing if not a charmer. "It is all natural, inborn.
You cannot acquire charm, you can only acquire manners," he
says. Considering guile often comes wrapped with this charm, he
has an absolutely devastating concoction. You know that you are
being sold a tale, yet you love it, you rejoice in it. And that
exactly is his craft - telling tales. And he has been doing it
better than most others. Thus even as producers, directors, actors
and others have emerged from anonymity, enjoyed their clichéd
15 minutes of fame and resumed their place on the sidelines, Ismail
Merchant, the one half of Merchant Ivory Productions, goes on unabated,
much like a river in spate. He has been like this ever since he
was born. Or can remember.
Remember
he can! He has a memory that refuses to play pranks, makes computers
appear a dispensable luxury and maintaining diary a redundant exercise. "Yes,
I remember everything from my childhood. For the first year or
so - after reaching New York on August 11, 1958 - I maintained
a diary but not after that. I have a photographic memory. Most
of the incidents in the book are pure memorabilia," he says
referring to "My Passage From India" which is hitting the bookstores
in New Delhi this week.
Scarcely
a surprise then that the first words in this literary exercise
published by Roli Books are: "I can remember the exact moment
when I knew that I wanted to spend my life in the world of movies.
I was thirteen years old then and had been invited by Nimmi, one
of the upcoming stars in the Bombay film industry, to accompany
her to the premiere of her first film, 'Barsaat.'
"The
obsession of making a film was always playing on my mind. When
I reached America, it was to make international films. I wanted
to make international films on my terms. I found that over there
films were treated in an independent way and found my way across
to people who shared my passion for films."
Again
his contention is buttressed with a vivid anecdote of his meeting
with James Ivory. "One evening forty years ago, James Ivory
and I sat in a coffee shop, the Right Bank on Madison Avenue in
New York, and discussed the idea of making Indian-themed films
for an international audience," writes Merchant in the book. "Recently
I was told that a plaque would be erected on the site to mark the
place where the Merchant-Ivory partnership began." The partnership
- along with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - resulted in more than 40 ventures
together, some successful in execution, others in conception.
Yet,
it was not always so easy. The early years were a mix of the modern
and the orthodox. On the one hand, he was regular in offering prayers
at the Ajmer Dargah - to this day he is a khadim there, buying
baskets of roses, giving alms to the poor. On the other, this St.
Joseph's School product went to the Turf Club with his father who
was a passionate enthusiast of the sport.
Little
wonder, Merchant asks: "Does religion prohibit you from doing
any good thing? As an individual you can do an act of piety. I
pray once a day in the morning though my father used to pray five
times a day. I thank God. It's an individual who carries out His
mission. For the mission to be accomplished, one has to understand
self. For understanding self one has to understand people."
Well,
the mission took this lover of kababs and iftari - and films -
to America to realise his dreams. Starting out as a guide in New
York when he was "entirely ignorant," he charmed his
way through to Paul Newman as a fan. And later he was to work with
him in "Mr and Mrs Bridge." Again, it was scripted by Jhabvala.
Well,
Merchant has crossed many a bridge since. And this book with 75
photographs gives a vivid account. The words are simple, yet engaging.