FROM 1961 to 1991. From the black-and-white era to Technicolor times. From The Householder to The Proprietor. From raising funds for films to raising money for AIDS research. Merchant-Ivory Productions has come a long way. And today, 21 Academy awards, 35 years and over 20 films later, the Ismail Merchant-James Ivory-Ruth Prawer Jhabvala troika features in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest partnership in film history.
On September 17, when I finally meet Merchant, he tells me proudly that New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani had declared the day as Merchant-Ivory Day in the city, and that their movie, Surviving Picasso, would be screened at The Museum of Modern Art to coincide with the closing of the Picasso and Portraiture exhibition. Later, at Carnegie Hall where rehearsals for the evening are in progress, he remarks that if he were to look back over the last three decades of moviemaking, both in Bombay and New York, he would see this evening as one of the highlights of his career. "It’s going to be the greatest programme in New York this evening," he declared.
Six hours later, a grand concert commemorating 35 years of Merchant-Ivory Productions opens in befitting style at Carnegie Hall, raising money for the American Foundation For AIDS Research (AMFAR).
Music from Shakespeare Wallah, A Room With a View and Jefferson in Paris played by the Orchestra of St Luke and tabla virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain, accompanied by stills from the films, opens the event. The hostess, Goldie Hawn, looks resplendent in a white sari as she talks of her love affair with India and her admiration for the Merchant-Ivory duo, whom she variously describes as "an Indian morning raga and Mahler’s 5th, the yin and the yang, heaven and earth..."
The concert celebrated the work of composer Richard Robbins, whose music features in more than 15 Merchant-Ivory films and who is aptly described by actor Hugh Grant as "the shadowy figure in the Merchant-Ivory team, more heard than seen". Other performances include renditions of Puccini arias from A Room With a View by internationally-renowned soprano Barbara Hendricks; a suite from In Custody composed and performed by Zakir Hussain, his musicians, vocalist Hariharan and the orchestra and performances by Nell Carter and Marc Tissot from the forthcoming release, The Proprietor.
The music is interspersed with readings from novels and scripts by celebrities like Madhur Jaffrey, Greta Scacchi, Joanne Woodward, Vanessa Redgrave and Jeanne Moreau, all of whom have starred in Merchant-Ivory movies. Hugh Grant quips humorously, paying Merchant’s cooking the ultimate compliment: "You don’t do a Merchant-Ivory film for the money, you do it for the curry!" Christopher ‘Superman’ Reeve makes a special appearance, talking fondly of his role in
The Bostonians. Glamorous Sharon Stone appears on behalf of AMFAR and then, finally, First Lady Hillary Clinton reads a ‘fan letter’ to Merchant-Ivory Productions.
Merchant-Ivory’s ventures encompass a wide range of subjects and locales. They are almost always based on classics, be it E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View, Howard’s End and Maurice, Henry James’ The Bostonians and The Europeans, more contemporary novels like Anita Desai’s In Custody, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day, or most recently Arianna Huffington’s 1988 biography Picasso, Creator and Destroyer. Autumn 1996 will see the release of two new Merchant-Ivory films by Warner Brothers— Surviving Picasso and The Proprietor.
The Proprietor deals with an ageing writer who returns to Paris to prevent the auctioning of her mother’s house after her death and in the process of grieving comes to face her own hidden fears and emotions. The Proprietor pre mieres on October 9 and features Jeanne Moreau, Sean Young, Sam Waterson, Nell Carter and a new face from Geneva, Marc Tissot.
Starring Anthony Hopkins as the passionate and tempestuous painter, Surviving Picasso depicts the rocky romance between 20-something art student and model, Francoise Gilot (played by London stage actress Natascha McElhone), and a 60-something Picasso in Nazi-occupied Paris.
A love of literature, respect for historical accuracy and detail, unerring artistic eye, musical brilliance, ingenious use of modern technology combined with a unique interpretation is the stuff that gives Merchant-Ivory’s films that timeless quality. And in Ismail’s words: "We’ve done it for the last 35 years, so here’s to the next 35!"
Payal Kohli in New York
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