The Berlin International Film Festival has announced that the newly restored version of Pradip Krishen and Arundhati Roy’s cult film “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” (1989), which captured the zeitgeist of student life in an architecture school in Delhi in the mid-1970s, will have its world premiere at the 76th edition of the festival this year.
The National Award-winning film has been restored in 4K by Film Heritage Foundation. Pradip Krishen and Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, who wrote the screenplay and acted in the film, will travel to Berlin to present the film at the premiere with Film Heritage Foundation Director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
PRADIP KRISHEN, DIRECTOR:
When we made “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” almost four decades ago, it was unique in the sense that no one was making films about people like us, about the English-speaking student subculture where the characters spoke their own patois. But the film went out of circulation after a single screening on television. When I donated my film material to Film Heritage Foundation, I didn’t imagine that “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” would be restored and have a second innings. I am delighted that the restoration has been selected for a world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, where a film that virtually went underground will be presented to the world on such a major platform. Film Heritage Foundation has done remarkable work on the restoration of the film and I am looking forward to presenting the film in Berlin with Arundhati and Shivendra.
SHIVENDRA SINGH DUNGARPUR, DIRECTOR, FILM HERITAGE FOUNDATION:
“Film Heritage Foundation’s policy has been to restore rare gems of Indian cinema that are in danger of being lost and forgotten and showcase India’s rich film heritage to contemporary audiences. When Pradip Krishen donated a print of “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” to the foundation, I knew that this was a film that must be restored. Shot on 16 mm, “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” was a pathbreaking film at the time it was made - arguably the first “English” film, irreverent and idiosyncratic, with a screenplay and dialogues that captured so authentically the student milieu of the ‘70s. Film Heritage Foundation restorations have been premiered every year at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals for the last few years. “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” will be our first restoration to have its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. I know that this is a film that will be a discovery for cinephiles all over the world.”
RESTORATION CREDITS
Restored in 4K by Film Heritage Foundation at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the director Pradip Krishen.
Funding provided by Film Heritage Foundation.
In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones was restored using the best surviving elements: the 16 mm original camera negative and sound negative preserved at the NFDC-National Film Archive of India and a 35 mm release print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation.
The original camera negative had colour fading, broken splices, tears, scratches, mould, emulsion damage and previous tape repairs.
Hours of manual work went into the film repair, digital restoration, and color grading.
RESTORATION PROCESS
We didn’t know it then, but it was a phone call from my friend Karan Bali in 2023 that set us on the path to restoring “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones.” Karan’s friend in Delhi told him that Pradip Krishen was shifting homes and was planning to donate all his material to a university, including material related to his films. Karan immediately got in touch with us saying that we should speak to Pradip about acquiring his films and film-related materials for our archive. I went to visit Pradip at his home in Delhi in January 2024 and discovered a trove of material that he had beautifully preserved over the years that included 35 mm and 16 mm prints of his films, original scripts, notes, photographs, posters, drawings, costumes, wigs, and sound recordings. Among the several cartons that travelled from Delhi to Mumbai in March 2024 was a release print of “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,” digital audiotapes (DATs) of the entire film, the shooting script and the dialogue script.
I was excited to discover a film in the collection that was rarely seen but had achieved cult status over the years. I knew right away that this was a film we had to restore. We accessed the 16 mm original camera negative and sound negative from the National Film Archive of India. Our conservators checked all the elements, and the inspection report listed perforation damage, tears, scratches, shrinkage, mold, and halos. Our conservators spent hours of manual work on the film repair before the elements were sent to L’Immagine Ritrovata lab in Bologna for further restoration. The color correction of the film was time-consuming as the technicians had to deal with color fading in several sections of the film. Sound restoration was also a challenge as the optical elements had issues like significant electrical noise, distortion, gaps, and many drops.
The restoration has taken a year and a half, during which we worked closely with Pradip Krishen, who also worked on the subtitles of the film. As we worked on the restoration, I was reminded again what a unique film this was and I was determined that it should premiere at a major film festival. I am delighted that the restored “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” has been selected to premiere in Berlin and that Pradip Krishen and Arundhati Roy, who wrote the screenplay and acted in the film, will be in Berlin to present the film.
CAST AND CREW DETAILS:
In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, India, 1989, Pradip Krishen
112 mins, Colour, English, English Subtitles, DCP, 4K, 1.37:1, Mono
Producer: Pradip Krishen, Cinematographer: Rajesh Joshi, Editor: A. Thyagaraju, Story and Screenplay: Arundhati Roy, Sound: Indrajit Neogi, Art Director: Ravi Kaimal, Costumes: Vivela Kumari, Make-up: Golak Khandual, Production Company: Grapevine Film, Production Designer: Arundhati Roy, Executive Producer: Sandeep Singh Bedi.
Cast: Roshan Seth, Arjun Raina, Arundhati Roy, Rituraj, Isaac Thomas, Divya Seth, Idries Malik, Moses Uboh, Benoy Thomas, Himani Shivpuri, Raghuvir Yadav, , Jagan Shah, Shantanu Nagpal, Shuddha Sengupta, Loveleen Mishra, Shoumendra Bose, Smita Vats, Naved Aslam, Pankaj Rishi Kumar, Kuldeep Sarin, Yuvraj Sharma, Col. Krishen Tuli, Cecil Qadir, Mohini Mathur, Shahrukh Khan.
SYNOPSIS:
Described by film critic Maithili Rao as “anarchic and moving, funny and outrageous,” the film “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,” directed by Pradip Krishen and written by Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, is set in architecture school in Delhi in 1974. The film is a window into the lively college life of a diverse cohort of zany, irreverent characters with a scant respect for authority. At the time, these were characters who had never appeared on the Indian screen before—the westernized, elite English-speaking Indian. This is an English film—not British English, not American English, but Indian English—specifically Delhi Universitese, in all its richness and complexity.
The eponymous “Annie” is Anand Grover, a fifth year student who has been failing for four years, who breeds chickens in his hostel room. “Gives it those ones” is Delhi University slang for ‘does his usual act”—more or less. In Annie’s case, it means being a bit of a bungler, a sort of misguided visionary. His motley crew of friends includes, the bright and rebellious Radha (Arundhati Roy), her boyfriend Arjun, Mankind, and his Ugandan roommate Kasozi, who grinds his teeth when he dreams of Idi Amin. Their bête noire is Prof. Y.D. Billimoria, whom the friends call Yamdoot – the messenger of the God of Death. The film also marked the debut of superstar Shah Rukh Khan as Senior in a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance. With the visual texture of a home movie peppered with sharp witty dialogues, the film captures the easy camaraderie of the students, the strong bonds of friendship and the ebullience of youth. Yet underlying the high jinks is a resistance to conformity and their idealistic dreams to work for social upliftment.
