Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to Ismail Merchant, 1985 February 16 : autograph manuscript signed.

Explaining why she hasn't yet returned the contract; giving him her bank details for the payment; telling him she's sending him a copy of "the script for Saeed for 'The Courtesan'"; assuring him that she'll send the script for "A Room with a View" to Ian Smyth in London and to him in Hyderabad as soon as it's ready, and predicting it will be "an easy and inexpensive film to do," especially compared to their most recent work; assuring him that Harish [Khare] will be providing the Hindi translations soon, and if they don't arrive in time, "Jhab will have to dictate them to you again"; commiserating with him about the "rotten and difficult time" he's having at present, and noting that they're starting the film ["The Bostonians"] "in a gloomy mood" and noting that this is the opposite to their usual trajectory, where "we usually start off all fire and hope and happiness and optimism," and hoping this bodes well for the production ending happily; providing contact details for the current U.K. High Commissioner in India, who Merchant hoped to have appear in a film.