Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to Ismail Merchant, New York, New York, 1967 October 30 : autograph manuscript signed.

Opening "I couldn't believe it, when your telegram came so quickly. I thought it was a joke and kept scrutinising it carefully to make sure it really came from New York..."; thanking Merchant on her own behalf and Ivory's for having "lifted a great, great burden from our minds"; telling him she and Ivory have "started work on the ["Shakespeare Wallah"] Sequel," which she will not bother him with the details of, but that Ivory has written Peter Reilly in New York for "details about modelling sessions," presumably for the script, and "any fantastic parties he may have attended"; making a quick aside-- "I'm sorry this letter is so dirty but it's the only one I have and Nixi [one of the Jhabvala's dogs] seems to have walked over it"; passing on news of Ivory, who is currently in Bombay, and enthusiastically planning to attend the premiere of "Shakespeare Wallah" in Paris; describing a French film she recently saw, "Le Soupirant," and saying they are planning to see Truffaut's "The Soft Skin" and "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" by Louis Malle [the title is a mistake-- Malle was not involved with any film by that name], who will be present for the screening; expressing gladness that David Brown at Fox like the "Guru" script; describing the Maestro's [Satyajit Ray's] less effusive but still positive response to the script; asking if he would like her to send the Shashi-Jennifer synopsis [probably "Bombay Talkie"]; asking if he thinks "they" would send "The Knack" [a 1965 film starring Rita Tushingham, who has been cast in "The Guru"] and "Accident" [a 1967 film starring Michael York, also recently cast in "The Guru"] to John [presumably John Freeman]-- "We're all very keen to see, and John will be able to clear, we all think. But will the companies [presumably the respective film studios] be obliging enough to send? John thinks no"; telling Merchant "don't bother about it-- you have lots more important things to do."