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Fortyyearson,MerchantIvoryfilmsTheMysticMasseur inTrinidad
EXPOSURE • 25
Photo: Aasif Mandvi and Zohra Segal are all smiles in The Mystic Masseur
in production
ISLAND IN THE SUN
ISLAND IN THE SUN
Not for nothing is Merchant Ivory Productions nick- named ‘The Wandering Company.’ Celebrating its 40th anniversary of filmmak- ing this year, MIP has globe- trotted everywhere from Boston to Florence, from Paris to Bombay, taking in London, Texas, Delhi and New York.
But its 39th and latest film, The Mystic Masseur, marked an exotic loca- tion first even for this peripatetic and prolific team... Trinidad, situated at the south-east corner of the Caribbean, just off the coast of Venezuela.
For Ismail Merchant, usually the producer half of the titular tandem, The Mystic Masseur is just his fourth fea- ture as a director following In Custody (1994), The Proprietor (1996) and Cotton Mary (1999).
It was, he readily admits, the come- dy that originally attracted him to the first novel by the then 25-year-old VS (now Sir Vidia) Naipaul, one of Trinidad’s most famous, if long absent, sons. Booker Prizewinner in 1971 for In A Free State, Naipaul’s novels also include The Mimic Men and, arguably his most popu- lar work, A House For Mr Biswas.
Set during the 40s and 50s in and around the island’s Indo-Trinidadian (from the Naipaul family hails), Mystic Masseur is a gently satirical tale charting the rise and rise of bookish young Ganesh Ramsumair from failed school- teacher, aspiring author and struggling masseur (a sort of spiritual healer in local terms) to revered mystic, esteemed mem- ber of the legislative council and MBE.
With a recommendation from MIP stalwart, and his most regular writer/adapter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala,
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