In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones

It stars Arjun Raina as the title character, with Roshan Seth and Arundhati Roy in key roles. The film also features Shahrukh Khan and Manoj Bajpayee, both then struggling actors in the Delhi theatre circuit, in small but significant roles. Set in the 1970s, in the National Institute of Architecture, New Delhi, the plot revolves around Anand Grover, known as Annie, a misguided visionary who gets into trouble for making fun of the principal, Y.D. Billimoria known as Yamdoot.

In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones
Poster
Directed by	Pradip Krishen
Written by	Arundhati Roy Arjun Raina
Produced by	Bobby Bedi (Kaleidoscope Entertainment)
Starring	Arundhati Roy Roshan Seth Shahrukh Khan
Cinematography	Rajesh Joshi
Edited by	A. Thyagaraju
Release date	1989 (1989)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	India
Language	English

The film was the recipient of two National Awards in 1989. It acquired a cult status in the years after it was made. The original print of the movie is lost. Previously, the only copies of the film in circulation were those that were recorded on Video Cassette Recorder when the film was screened on Doordarshan. However, camera recordings of these video cassette tapes were also made, and subsequently posted on YouTube to where they are still available now. The film was made for TV and never released theatrically. It was shown on Doordarshan in 1989.

The film was part autobiographical with Roy recounting her own experiences of studying in the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, a leading architecture institute in India. This was the first screenplay by Roy, the second movie by Krishen after his colonial-period drama Massey Sahib (1985). The film is noted for one of the earliest cinematic appearances of Shahrukh Khan.

Anand Grover, better known as Annie, is victimized for making fun of his principal, Y. D. Billimoria (popularly known as Yamdoot or Hell's messenger), years ago. At the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Annie is repeating his fifth year for the fourth time. He spends his hours in the hostel which is the best part of his life, by 'giving it those ones' — indulging in daydreams of social uplift. His latest idea is to plant fruit trees on either side of railway tracks, where rural India defecates daily. The faecal matter will provide the necessary compost for the trees, while the trains, with sprinklers attached, will automatically water the plants.

Annie keeps two hens in his room and earns a modest sum by selling their eggs, until one day his friend, Mankind, and his Ugandan roommate, Kasozi, make a roasted meal out of them. Soon, however, hirsute Arjun and his girlfriend Radha — a non-conformist student who steals cigarettes from Yamdoot and talks back to the teachers — present Annie with a rabbit.

Many adventures later, the day to submit the thesis draws near. Annie, urged by his friends, apologises to Yamdoot. A panel of judges call the students one by one for their final interviews and the tension mounts. Radha goes dressed in a saree but wears a man's hat to detract from her sober attire. To make sure that Annie gets a sympathetic hearing from the hostile panel, Radha and Arjun work out a plan. Just when Annie is called in, Yamdoot receives a phone call from his dominating deep-voiced mother (who in actuality is Mankind). The trick works and the weary panel gives Annie a good grade.

At the party after the graduation ceremony, Annie arrives with heavy books under his arm, his hair shaved off and a butterfly painted on his head. He informs his friends that he has decided to study law and then sue Yamdoot. But subsequently, Annie became an assistant professor of design at the National Institute of Architecture, a year after Yamdoot's retirement.