Starring Arundhati Roy and Arjun Raina as the lead cast, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones is an English patois film made in India, showing ’70s Delhi college life right down to the grimy hostels and vapid afternoons— made to a soft-rock soundtrack. Interestingly, it also stars Shah Rukh Khan in the role of a subdued ‘armchair intellectual’ who’s only referred to as ‘Senior’. A recent beginner at that point, he had acted in this film before Fauji, the TV serial that shot him to fame. Senior, who hangs about the film like a ghost, is a cerebral character and is unlike other character played by Shah Rukh in his later film career.
Set in the National Institute of Architecture, New Delhi, the film revolves around Anand Grover (Arjun Raina), better known as Annie, a misguided visionary who gets into trouble for making fun of the principal, Y.D. Billimoria (popularly known as Yamdoot or Hell’s messenger). Directed by Pradip Kishen, this tale of protest, which asserted the right to freedom of speech, was aired for viewers for the first time on Doordarshan.
Scroll.in informs us, “Annie was aired late one night in 1989 on Doordarshan and then disappeared from view. The film’s reputation grew in direct proportion to its obscurity.”
It was Arundhati Roy’s debut screenplay for which she won the National Award in 1989. Pradip Kishen won the National Award for it being the Best Feature Film in English.
Even though the movie was filmed decades back, it came into the spotlight recently when Arundhati Roy and Pradip Kishen returned their national awards as a sign of protest because of the current government’s intolerance towards freedom of expression and art.
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