A Collaboration: Shashi Kapoor, Merchant-Ivory & Ruth Jhabvala

As it happened, Devgar was never made; the money that Ismail was supposed to raise for the film did not come. But the producer — far from conceding defeat — found another idea to pursue. On the recommendation of a Hollywood scriptwriter at MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Ismail had read a book written by the German writer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who lived in Delhi with her Indian architect husband. Ismail was riveted by the story of The Householder and its ability to capture the nuances of Indian life. He passed on the book to James, who was equally captivated. 

Straightaway, the two contacted Ruth, who — known for her reluctance to talk to filmmakers — pretended on the phone to be her mother-in-law. Finally, though, the ruse collapsed, and after some hesitation, she agreed to meet them. One can only assume that Ismail and James charmed her with their persuasiveness, for — despite her husband’s warning that the duo looked like flyby-night operators — Ruth not only gave them permission to make a film based on her novel but also agreed to write the script. Ismail and James, loath to let go of the dream star cast of Devgar, decided to involve Shashi, Leela and Durga once more, this time in the new project. But, before they could finalise the actors, Ruth expressed a concern. She thought Shashi was far too handsome to play the role of Prem Sagar, the hapless schoolteacher in The Householder. ‘If you wanted to make a film about a poor, struggling tutor in some miserable school in Delhi, you probably would not cast someone like Shashi, who was so magnificent,’ James tells me. ‘He was a grand young man.’ When Shashi heard of Ruth’s objections — that he was too glamorous and good looking for the part — he arrived at a rather novel solution. He says, ‘I went to a very famous barber shop in Delhi and I said, ‘I don’t want a sophisticated haircut. I want a typical, lower-middle-class Hindi teacher haircut — [for a man] who is very young, very raw. And I want to look like that.’’ 10 Subsequently, when Shashi visited Ruth — his thick hair neatly cut, with a staid side parting — and spoke like the character he imagined Prem Sagar to be, Ruth could not help seeing him in a new light. ‘So that’s how I started [my association] with Merchant-Ivory Productions,’ Shashi says.

It didn’t take long for Shashi to grow close to James. ‘I enjoyed working with Jim [as James was referred to by friends],’ he says, ‘because he gave me the confidence […] to do things my way, to use my talent, my intelligence, my sensibilities [to portray] characters in his films.’ James, on his part, says that it was because Shashi was happy to immerse himself in a role, and allow his life experiences, susceptibilities and inclinations to interact with each part, that he enjoyed collaborating with the actor.