Burst of talent way before Bollywood and Booker

Recently, mid-day reported that Shyam Benegal's celebrated movie Manthan (1976) will be screened at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival after film archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur restored it over one-and-a-half years (Move over couture, classic goes to Cannes, May 4). Now, Dungarpur is restoring another gem, director Pradip Krishen's In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989). What makes the television film noteworthy, besides its sharp script, is that it is Shah Rukh Khan's first cinematic appearance, and marks the debut of Manoj Bajpayee.

Manoj Bajpayee

In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones not only starred the Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy, but was also written by her. It was partly autobiographical, reflecting on her years in the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi. Dungarpur says, "Restoration is a rare skill, and of the many issues we have with it, figuring copyright has been one. This is a film we are currently working on." The film was aired on Doordarshan.

Set a year before the Emergency, the college drama sees Khan play a student named Senior, and Bajpayee in a supporting part. It subsequently won two National Awards, including Best Screenplay for Roy. After the restoration of the underrated gem is complete, Dungarpur plans to release it for cinephiles in limited theatres.