Letter from James Ivory, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1967 July 8 : typescript signed.

Discussing "the additional scenes for the Sequel" to "Shakespeare Wallah" which he recently received from Ruth; weighing questions of casting a key role with Zia Mohyudin or Saeed Jaffrey; saying that "the Red Brute" has indicated some interest in financing the sequel; turning to the synopsis of the Ustad film ["The Guru"], and the 16-page treatment he has written based on it; describing a few points of feedback he received from Ravi Shankar about the dynamics of having two wives and the possibility of making the Ustad a Hindu rather than a Muslim; suggesting an Iago-type character who could be played by Prayag Raj; mulling over some issues in the "guru-skikshya relationship" to be portrayed in the film; describing his and Merchant's visit to see Ravi Shankar and his wife Kamala at the Drake Hotel in New York; telling her they will see Shankar play at the Philharmonic soon, and Bismillah Khan next week; describing Satyajit Ray's stay in New York at their apartment-- "he spent a lot of time lying on the bed reading a science fiction novel"-- and Ray's movie deal with Columbia for a science fiction film starring Peter Sellers; outlining how they want to proceed, "on all fronts with all our properties at once"; asking for her permission to do a synopsis and treatment of "Esmond in India," in order to try to secure financing; asking if he might combine two characters with an eye to Madhur playing the composite character; signing off, and asking what she thought of his idea to set a ghost story in Simla.