Letter from James Ivory, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1971 December 28 : typescript signed.

Telling her that last night he and Merchant went to see Vittorio De Sica's "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," and that they were both extremely affected by it; observing that, for himself, while he had seen many portrayals of the events of that period, this was "the first and only time I was really moved and shocked, for the first time the enormity of those far-off crimes was brought home to me [...] and I have known you and others to which [sic] these things actually happened, and still it didn't make me feel like this film did"; describing Merchant's "extreme" reaction to the film: "The tears poured down his cheeks and when the lights came on he plunged out into the street and away without waiting for me, and when we got home he sat on his bed for a long, long time and didn't say a word but just sat staring down at the floor"; concluding, "I feel sure he saw in that film what could happen to his people in India"; reflecting that "I really did see what you meant when you said once that I would have been one of the ones who would not have got away. I would have been like those people maybe, letting each day pass, making little compromises, telling myself the next day will be better"; updating her on how many of "the things you wanted me to do" have been done, letters written, books sent, etc.; telling her "Ismail says that the Guru and S. Wallah screenplays are to be published together in one volume in India" and discussing the logistics of this undertaking,and dealing with Fox and Prabhu; asking her opinion on several issues related to this matter; telling her he visited Prithviraj Kapoor in the hospital [where the actor was being treated for cancer, see MA 23840.902], and noting that his son Raj was there, "and Narinder and that fool Debu and his new bride, Babita. There is much I could report of this last, but you know it."