title: My Passage from India: A Filmmaker's Journey from Bombay to Hollywood
author:  Ismail Merchant 
description: Ismail Merchant is one of Hollywood's premier movie producers with more than forty films and four Oscar nominations to his name. He has worked with director James Ivory on films such as <i>A Room with a View</i>, <i>Howards End</i>, and <i>Remains of the Day</i>. A native of Bombay, Merchant made his first mark on the film world with the 1961 Oscar-nominated short <i>The Creation of Woman</i>. He is also a master chef, skilled photographer, and the author of five other books.
zlib_text: Cover
  
  ![](Images/image00217.jpeg)  
    
  
  Title page
  
   **Mumbai Avengers**
  
  S. Hussain Zaidi
  
  with
  
  Gabriel Khan  
    
  
  ![](Images/image00213.jpeg)
  
  Dedication
  
   _For Shabana, Farida, Fatema and Narjis — the four_  
  _points of my life compass_  
   __  
  
  > > Contents
  
  > > Cover
  
  > > Title page
  
  > > Dedication
  
  > > Foreword
  
  > > Author’s Note
  
  > > Prologue
  
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  > > Epilogue
  
  > > About the Author
  
  > > Copyright
  
  Foreword  
    
  
  I’ve been attracted to films since childhood, especially those that deal with
  contemporary times and events that have changed the course of history. Many
  films in Hollywood do this brilliantly; they pick up events from the past and
  make parallel moving narratives that