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Berlinale Classics to showcase restored Arundhati Roy film
A nearly 40-year-old television film written by Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy will make its world premiere in a restored version at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, directed by Pradip Krishen, will screen in the Berlinale Classics section before a theatrical release across India in March.
Campus life captured with irreverent charm
Set in late-1980s Delhi, the film follows final-year architecture students at the School of Planning and Architecture as they navigate academic stagnation and youthful idealism. At its heart is Anand "Annie" Grover, a fifth-year student whose chronic distraction-including raising hens in his hostel room-has left him perpetually failing exams. His schemes, like fertilizing railway-side trees with train waste, reflect the group's mix of ambition and absurdity.
The ensemble cast includes a young Shah Rukh Khan in his screen debut and Roy herself as Radha, a sharp-witted student who smokes beedis and pairs saris with rakish hats. Dialogue blends Hindi and English, mirroring the "wacky anarchy" of campus life, as Roy later described in her memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me.
Cult status and cultural resonance
Upon its 1989 debut on Doordarshan, Annie sparked immediate recognition. Audiences-packed into screenings-cheered, laughed, and wolf-whistled at its unvarnished portrayal of student life. The film won two National Awards (best screenplay and best English-language feature) but faded from public view after a late-night broadcast, surviving only through bootleg copies among architecture students and cinephiles.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, director of the Film Heritage Foundation, which led the restoration, called it "a significant film" for its candid depiction of English-speaking youth in India. "Audiences weren't used to hearing English spoken so casually," he said. "But that's how students in some colleges talked. Annie captured it without self-consciousness."
Restoration challenges and enduring themes
The film's revival began serendipitously when Krishen, clearing out old trunks, nearly discarded scripts and materials before Dungarpur intervened. The restoration proved laborious: faded colors (including a red sari that had nearly vanished) and a degraded soundtrack required meticulous reconstruction.
Despite its 1980s setting-flared trousers, drafting tables, and cigarette smoke-Annie resonates with contemporary debates about bureaucracy, hierarchy, and institutional power. "The issues it speaks about are still prevalent," Dungarpur noted. "That's why it hasn't dated."
"Students were rebelling, but with hope and celebration, not anger. The film was about people finding joy in being themselves and saying we don't want to conform."
Pradip Krishen, director
Accessibility and legacy
The Film Heritage Foundation will release the restored film in Indian theaters in March, pricing tickets affordably to attract younger audiences. Dungarpur hopes they'll see both the "cool" of the era and its enduring relevance. "They'll recognize how much of it feels familiar," he said.
For Roy, the film's dissent lies in its tone-playful, not polemical. As she put it in a recent interview, it reflects a time when students rebelled "with hope and celebration," a spirit that lingers in the film's rambling, tender chaos.
