About Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant (born Ismail Noor Muhammad Abdul Rahman; 25 December 1936 – 24 May 2005) was an Indian film producer. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director (and Merchant's longtime professional and domestic partner) James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Together they made film adaptations from the novels of E.M. Forster and Henry James. Merchant received the BAFTA Award for Best Film for A Room with a View (1985), and Howards End (1992). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Live Action Short Film for The Creation of a Woman (1959) and for Best Picture for A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993). == Early life and education == Born in Bombay (Mumbai), Merchant was son of Hazra (née Memon) and Noor Mohamed Rehman, a Bombay textile dealer. He grew up speaking Gujarati, Urdu and Memoni fluently, and he later picked up Arabic and English while at school. When he was 11, he and his family were caught up in the 1947 partition of India. His father was the President of the Muslim League and refused to move to Pakistan. Merchant later said that he carried memories of "butchery and riots" into adulthood.
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