Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 July 27 : autograph manuscript signed.

Teasing Ivory that his projected holiday in Tangier [see MA 23840.869] is a cover story for something else, and not a very good one at that; relating this to a similar situation with Lillian Ross while Ivory was working on "V&H"; accusing Ivory of secretly being in India, "surreptitiously buying miniatures"; telling him that she has just heard from Cyril Dunn that Ivory and Merchant are going to the Moscow Film Festival to screen "Shakespeare Wallah" and "Bombay Talkie"; reacting with alarm to Ivory's description of Catherine [see MA 23840.871], specifically her wanting to constantly talk about John and the dissolution of their marriage, feeling this behavior is "so dangerous, and of course so typical & inevitable"; recalling one of her sisters-in-law reacting similarly when her husband-- Jhab's brother-- left her; feeling that she herself is "the worst person possible for Catherine to see just now" but wanting very much to see her anyway; worrying that her projected short trip to England in September will prove inadequate; embarking on a long discussion of Ivory's idea for a film about "India's art treasures being stolen," and offering a "framework" of plot on which to hang the character "types" he described [see MA 23840.870]; imagining characters based on Dorothy Strelsin and Dr. Fabri; going on to describe more possible plot points and a part that "could be exquisitely played by Madhur"; ruminating on the differences between a theatrical feature film and a telvision movie; meditating on her change of attitude toward "people who don't like one's work."