Letter from Satyajit Ray, Kolkata, India, to Ismail Merchant, 1966 April 4 : typescript signed.

Saying that they have finished mixing ("rerecording") "Nayak," which was delayed by "political disturbances" and now by a shortage of optical track film stock; lamenting the fact that the mixed tracks for "Nayak" are "lying on [magnetic] tape and very likely to be rotting in the heat so that by the time fresh stock arrives it may be found necessary to do it all over again"; saying he has selected most of the tracks for the Columbia album, but as they are all on optical negative, they will have to be printed before they can be transferred to tape, and this too is delayed because of the shortage of stock; relating that he has told Ravi Shankar about the project and wonders if he will want "a cut"; asking Merchant if he thinks this should be "hashed out" ahead of time; mentioning a project ("NET") being proposed by the Ministry of External Affairs, which he is willing to participate in as long as it doesn't involve a "deep probe" and doesn't interfere with his work; expressing happiness at the positive reviews of "Shakespeare Wallah" he saw in Time and Newsweek, and of "The Householder"; saying he got a card from Madhur in Mexico [where she had gone for work, and a divorce], and will write to Paul Myers and to Ivory soon; asking Merchant to send any of his books that might be lying around.