Asian awards salute Ismail Merchant

Renowned India-born filmmaker Ismail Merchant has been honoured posthumously with the lifetime achievement award at the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards.

Merchant, who died last May at the age of 68, had made several acclaimed period films such as Howards End, The Remains Of The Day and A Room With A View in partnership with James Ivory.

As a tribute to Merchant, recorded presentations from Merchant's partner Ivory, Naomi Watts, Ralp Fiennes and Natasha Richardson were shown on the occasion as Hollywood's elite came out to honour Asian Americans' accomplishments in entertainment, music, science last evening at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre.

Merchant, who was born in Mumbai, produced nearly 50 films and also turned to directing in a career spanning over four decades.

Their famed Merchant Ivory productions won six Oscar awards and found a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest partnership in independent cinema.

The film producer had also authored a number of books, including on cuisine.

Parminder Nagra, who shot to fame in 2002 as the lead in Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham, was nominated for Outstanding Female TV Performance for her work on NBC television series ER.

Naveen Andrews was nominated for Outstanding Male TV Performance as the Iraqi Character Savid Jarrah in ABC television series Lost.

The duo lost out to Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim, who star on the hit TV show Lost.

First Published: Jan 20, 2006 19:12 IST