Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 February 15 : autograph manuscript signed.

Expressing annoyance with Ivory "for saying you were just going to continue [writing] and then waiting 5 days before you actually did" [see MA 23840.698 and 699]; telling him his letter didn't come as much of a surprise as Merchant had already told her they were going to make a film with Holly Woodlawn, which she assumed would be "just a Doll's Wedding"; noting that, according to Time magazine, "Faye Dunaway and the onion farm really did get made"; expressing support and enthusiasm for the project Ivory described, both as an interesting idea and something that would allow Ivory to "[shake] off the albatross" of the label "the Director Who Makes Films in/about India"; offering encouragement to both Ivory and Merchant for this project; shifting to "Bombay Talkie" and noting that "we got that censor certificate at almost the precise moment that he [Merchant] touched Indian soil"; describing how, that morning, Jhab and Shashi had "spoken together rather despondently on the phone" about it, Jhab had gone to see Secretary Gujral, and he-- exasperated-- had granted the certificate with only a single cut required, and "at that moment Ismail rang up from Palam Airport [in Delhi] and we had a few seconds of breathless conversation before he had to run off to catch his plane [presumably to Bombay]"; telling him Merchant had managed to be let off the plane to make the call by claiming to be the Minister of "External Affairs," and promising to elaborate in another letter.