Letter from James Ivory, London, England, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Cyrus Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1967 November 19 : autograph manuscript signed.

Passing on a request from Fox regarding the status of the script for "The Guru," "as far as the I & B Ministry is concerned," because without the Ministry's approval, "Fox can't get the permission to de-block all that money"; wondering, "All this perpetually living in fear. Is it good for one? Whether or not we'll get finances for our films, then whether we can satisfy all the conditions of that finance? ... Fear of the Jackals, fear of plane crashes. How can I live like this? But that's what I'm paid for, it's my own choice, isn't it?"; describing the situation of "three or four snags at Fox" that almost derailed the project, and Merchant's confidence that everything would work out; saying they must begin shooting by December 19th, and "Madhur is acting up," demanding billing over Utpal Dutt--"We sent her an ultimatum yesterday"; describing in great detail his recent trip to Paris to do publicity for "Shakespeare Wallah"--meeting with "the Cahiers du Cinema people," doing radio interviews, checking the theater where "Shakespeare Wallah" is playing; relating an amusing story about the theft of some publicity pictures in the lobby of the theater, particularly one of Pinchoo Kapoor--"Fancy Pinchoo's photograph decorating some garret in Paris"; describing watching a screening of the film there; reflecting on what he has learned from making it; describing doing an interview at what turned out to be a Communist newspaper, including a small sketch of the hammer-and-sickle decorations on the stairs; describing a live appearance in front of a cinema audience--"All young, smart looking (by smart, I mean intelligent), the kind of audience Ismail always wants"; describing how Michel Delahaye translated Ivory's answers into French "with machine gun rapidity"; concluding "The second day in Paris was more or less like the first"; shifting to the music for "The Guru," which they have yet to make a decision on; describing meeting Mick Jagger at a party, along with Kenneth Tynan, James Fox, and Faye Dunaway--a party which Merchant found "highly decadent"--"He said England would be okay again if it was run by people like John and Catherine"; saying this morning they will be dealing with the music, and the wardrobe for Rita Tushingham; mentioning that he saw "Pretty Polly" [Shashi's first Western film production, a.k.a. "A Matter of Innocence"]--"How sweet Shashi looked, and how good he was, even the horrible dialogue sounded okay."