Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, Mumbai, India, 1970 May 17 : autograph manuscript signed.

Celebrating the decision to title the film "Bombay Talkie"; comparing his usual "wait and see policy" to Vyacheslav Molotov's approach, which she notes gave Molotov the nickname "Stone Bottom"; admitting his approach "does pay off sometimes. The prime example was over [Householder] and Columbia's 4 lakhs"; sharing her delight and relief that the film will be the anticipated length and he will not have to tear out "great chunks of film"; analyzing the way the film is currently structured and the way the scenes work together; wondering "where's our weak spot?"; replying to a previous letter where he wrote about "the hippies you met" and reflecting on the nature and the dream of freedom; contrasting the dream of freedom with the freedom that the aforementioned hippies seem to experience ("But you say there's no ideal, just drugs"); expressing her happiness that he got to meet them and that he gets to know different kinds of people because she believes it is good for him; observing that he may tend to "drift" toward people with similar interests; remarking that she feels like she needs to be more careful not to annoy him lately; discussing the impact of Merchant's 5-week trip, which is almost at its end; following up on the two letters she sent last week "which I hope you got"; narrating the struggle she had the last time the mail carrier tried to deliver a registered letter.