Letter from Ismail Merchant, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1965 November 24 : typescript signed.

Saying he read her letter to Ivory (see MA 23480.251) and was least interested in her scathing comments on his character sketches for the beach house film (see MA 23480.199a and 199b), as he doesn't find those sorts of characters interesting either; admitting that he was troubled by what she said about he and Ivory being house-proud and collecting "dainty things," and asserting that most of the entertaining he does is for business reasons, especially publicity for "Shakespeare Wallah"; saying "Jim was particularly hurt and upset" by being compared to Tennessee Williams-- "I thought your analysis was too harsh"; pointing out that during shooting, Ivory's "streak of madness" regarding Indian characters is mitigated by members of the crew; changing the subject to Satyajit Ray, who they are looking forward to seeing when he stops in New York on his way to Mexico; telling her Columbia Records is going to put out an album of Ray's film music, including his work on "Shakespeare Wallah"; warning her about Ved, who is coming to India--he doesn't trust him; telling her they will start shooting the project with Lillian Ross early next year, anbd he is frustrated by delays in cutting down "Shakespeare Wallah" since he cannot show it to potential distributors until the work is done.