In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones is a 1989 Indian TV film with screenplay by Arundhati Roy, direction by Pradip Krishen, and starring Arjun Raina as the title character, along 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. This film was the recipient of two National Awards in 1989. This film acquired a cult status in the years after it was made. The original print of the movie is lost and the only copies of the film in circulation are those that were recorded on Video Cassette Recorder when the film was screened on Doordarshan. Set in the 1970s, In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones is a funny film of architecture students in their final year of college. 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.
Plot
Anand Grover, better known as Annie, is victimized for making fun of his principal, Y.D. Billimoria, years ago. At the National Institute of 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 fecal 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, is actuality 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 Associate Professor of Design at the NationalInstitute of Architecture, a year after Yamdoot's retirement.
