Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1964 January 20 : autograph manuscript signed.

Describing at length how their two visions of how the story of "Shakespeare Wallah" should be structured are "very much at odds"-- Ivory seems to want to include much more actual Shakespeare than Jhabvala thinks is necessary or desireable; likewise their respective views of the characters to be played by Saeed and Madhur Jaffrey, and the significance of the Ramlila scenes near the end; assuring Ivory that she likes his notes a lot, even for scenes they may end up not using; saying she has been talking to Jennifer Kendal a lot, "asking a million questions," and getting her to "elaborate on a whole lot of details," as she and Shashi are in Delhi where Shashi is shooting a film, and wanting to meet with the Kendals as well; admitting she is coming around to Ivory's feeling that she should start writing the script before Ivory arrives back in India; confessing she has trouble thinking "in action rather than dialogue" as Ivory has advised; discussing how the script should open; saying Mr. Dutt from the Finance Ministry phoned last night with reassuring news about the negotiations between the Indian government and Columbia Pictures; feeling irked at Leela Naidu's behavior, refusing to plug "The Householder" yet begging MIP for a part in their next project; apologizing that her publisher has altered Ivory's photograph and used the altered version on the cover of her book "Like Birds, Like Fishes" without crediting him; congratulating Ivory "on becoming Uncle and Godfather"; asking Ivory to bring her a light cotton housedress when he returns, "But not, please, transparent"; picking up writing two days later, repeating her uneasiness with the characters to be played by Saeed and Madhur Jaffrey; enclosing another outline for the script [not present].