Book review

In 1988, Arundhati Roy wrote the story and screenplay for In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, a low-budget production produced and directed by Pradip Krishen. The film had almost no big names, and was shown just once on national television in a late-night slot, when few people saw it. Despite this it acquired near cult status, especially among young English-speaking urban Indians.

Set in a not-so-fictional school of Architecture in the year 1974, it is the story of dope-smoking, bellbottom-wearing, vaguely idealistic final-year students in the run up to the submission of their architectural theses. The main character, Annie�Anand Grover�doing his ninth year in college, is a misguided visionary who breeds chickens in his hostel room and is in love with a small-time cabaret dancer. There are also Radha, a bright, brash and not-so-sweet young thing, and her boyfriend Arjun; Mankind, and his Ugandan roommate Kasozi, who grinds his teeth when he dreams of Idi Amin; Lekha, who doesn't hesitate to trade coyness for marks; and Professor Y.D. Bilimoria, whom the students call Yamdoot�the messenger of the God of Death. Also a character in the film, perhaps the most important, is English as she is spoken by students in Delhi University��an alloy, melted down and then re-fashioned, soldered together with Hindi (occasionally even a little Punjabi).�

The screenplay of this moving, funny and unusual film is published here for the first time.
Over thirty stills.
A witty, nostalgic preface in which Arundhati Roy writes about the making of the film, its relevance today and its significance in the development of her art and her politics.

Paperback
Format: 7" X 9" | 128 pages |
Published : 8/18/2003


About the author Born in 1961 in Bengal, Arundhati Roy grew up in Kerala. She trained as an architect at the Delhi School of Architecture, but became better known for her complex, scathing film scripts. She wrote and starred in In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, and wrote the script for Pradip Kishen's Electric Moon. Media attention came when she spoke out in suapport of Phoolan Devi, who she felt had been exploited by Shekhar Kapur's film Bandit Queen. The controversy escalated into a court case, after which she retired to private life to work on her first book, The God of Small Things, which was published in 1997. The half-million pound advance on this book, more than Vikram Seth's for A Suitable Boy, shot her to fame again