Filmmaker Ismail Merchant (of Merchant Ivory Productions), was feted at Locarno this year. His film Muhafiz (based on Anita Desai's novel In Custody), starring Om Puri and Shashi Kapoor, was screened as a special tribute to the filmmaker.

Merchant's most recent film, The Mystic Masseur, starring Aasif Mandvi, Om Puri and Ayesha Dharker, was a screen adaptation of Sir V S Naipaul's book of the same name.

Seen here are (from left) Indian Ambassador to Switzerland P K Goel, German distributor Kamran Khan and Merchant.