Filmmaker Ismail Merchant, 68, died in a London hospital on Wednesday. He was unmarried, and had no children. Relatives said Merchant’s ulcer burst, causing his death. Merchant had recently undergone surgery for abdominal ulcers. Ismail Merchant, the boy from Mumbai who became film-maker and chronicler of cultural diversity before the term multiculturalism was invented by the West.

“It was a great shock,’’ said Simon, one of Merchant’s colleagues. The 68-year-old film-maker, who was one half of the multiple award-winning 40-year-old partnership Merchant-Ivory, had been in London three weeks before he passed away. The film-maker, who jetted between homes and production offices in Mumbai, London and New York, had become synonymous with a high quality, nostalgic form of period drama that produced classic literary adaptations such as A Room with a View, Howard’s End, Remains of the Day and The Golden Bowl.

Merchant died surrounded by friends and family at hospital. He had been unwell and recently underwent surgery for abdominal ulcers, according to Indian television reports. Merchant and James Ivory, an American, made some 40 films together and won six Oscars since their famous partnership in 1961 with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

<I>Source: Times of India</I>