‘I returned from Dutt funeral, phone rang: Ismail had died in London’

Mumbai-born filmmaker Ismail Merchant died in London on Wednesday. He was 69. Teaming up with James Ivory to form the Merchant-Ivory Product...

Mumbai-born filmmaker Ismail Merchant died in London on Wednesday. He was 69. Teaming up with James Ivory to form the Merchant-Ivory Productions, they had a string of international hits such as A Room With A View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Heat and Dust and The Bostonians. Shashi Kapoor remembers the man he knew and worked with:

I had just come back from Sunil Dutt’s funeral. I was very tired and quite unhappy, Suddenly I got a call from Ismail’s brother-in law, Wahid Chauhan that Ismail was no more.

I just couldn’t believe it. I don’t think I can take it, I’m too shattered. I just spoke to him three days ago, and he seemed fine.

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He was admitted in a London hospital for treatment of ulcers and everything was going fine. He was going to be discharged tomorrow, when the ulcers ruptured. He had just got back from China, where he was shooting a film, and when I spoke to him I told him to take it easy, because he would get really worked up about work.

Ismail was a workaholic. So he came across as an extrovert, because of his whole demeanour, actually he used to worry a lot. I’ve known him since 1961, when both of us were very young and raw, and I did Merchant-Ivory’s first two films, and got Ismail as a lifelong friend.

He was a terrific guy, and my best friend. He was the one jo acchhe aur bure waqt mein hamesha mere saath raha.

I was just telling my daughter Sanjna, that 21 years ago, when my wife Jennifer died, Ismail cooked a meal for over 100 people, all by himself.

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I’ll always miss him. Life will not be the same without Ismail.

As told to Harneet Singh

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