When Shah Rukh Khan Was Upset With Arundhati Roy

When Arundhati Roy wrote her first novel God of Small Things, her team reached out to Shah Rukh Khan inviting him to read a passage from the book at its Mumbai launch.
Perhaps because he still held a grudge, Khan refused the invitation.

Key Points

The 4K restored version of the film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones had its world premiere in Berlin on Monday, February 16, 2026.
Arundhati Roy co-wrote Annie with Pradip Krishen and also played the lead role in the film.
Next month Film Heritage Foundation will release the restored version of Annie in a few select theatres in India.

IMAGE: Arundhati Roy in a scene from In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones.

"I know Arundhati Roy has a very special place for Berlin in her heart," filmmaker Pradip Krishen said at the Berlinale world premiere of the 4K restored version of his first film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989) "I know this based on the two book tours that I came on with her to Berlin."

Roy co-wrote Annie with Krishen and also played the lead role in the film. The two were also in a relationship for several years.

Arundhati Roy has strong, strong principles and strong beliefs

IMAGE: The film was presented by filmmaker Pradip Krishen and FHF Director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who also serves as an international jury member, alongside Heleen Gerritsen, Artistic Director, Deutsche Kinemathek. Photograph: Aseem Chhabra

Krishen was addressing Roy's decision to skip Berlinale and to not represent the film after the festival's main jury president -- German filmmaker Wim Wenders made the remark that festivals "[C]annot enter the field of politics. We have to stay out of politics."

In supporting Roy's decision, Krishen added, "She has strong, strong principles and strong beliefs. I stand with her."

The restored print looks great with bright, vibrant colours

IMAGE: German filmmaker Wim Wenders. Photograph: Aseem Chhabra

Krishen introduced the film along with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of the Film Heritage Foundation, the organisation that backed Annie's restoration. Also present at the screening was Wenders who could be seen trying to find a seat for himself before the film started.

The actual restoration of the film was done in a lab in Bologna, Italy, using elements from a 16 mm print which Krishen stored in a trunk at his home and also a copy of the film at the National Film Archives of India.

The restored print looks great with bright, vibrant colours, corrected sound and new subtitles written by Krishen.

The Monday night screening saw a nearly full house. Berlinale has scheduled two more screenings of the film.

Annie is full of charm and loads of humour

IMAGE: Arjun Raina in a scene from In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones.

Produced by Doordarshan, Annie was never released in theatres in India. But a few year ago a pirated print of the film appeared on YouTube. According to Krishen the film gained a cult status thanks that print on YouTube.

Next month Film Heritage Foundation will release the restored version of Annie in a few select theatres in India.

Annie, set in a fictional National School of Architecture, is inspired by Roy's experiences when she studied at Delhi's School of Planning and Architecture. The film is full of charm and loads of humour which the German audiences seemed to enjoy.

But the film also feels locked in a specific time and place. University students in India may have similar experiences even now. But Krishen's film seems very much tied to the mid-1970s, with students keeping long mustaches, sideburns, and wearing bell bottom pants.

While it was made in the late 1980s, Krishen and Roy's script is nod to the influences of the hippie sub-culture that found its way in India in the 1960s and early 1970s. It was a look that was easily adapted by Indian college-aged students in big cities.

Annie is a fascinating film, free spirited, even when the script rambles along. Some performances are good, while others are uneven. Roshan Seth is wonderful as the companionate dean of the college, who the students have nicknamed as Yamdoot. Roy is charming as college student Radha.

Shah Rukh Khan was displeased with the role he was given

IMAGE: Naved Aslam and Shah Rukh Khan in a scene from In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones.

Perhaps the most uneven performance in the film is by a young actor named Shah Rukh Khan. As many people know this was Khan's first screen appearance. Khan had hoped to get a bigger role in the film, but Krishen and Roy made him an unnamed 'Senior' who has a couple of dialogues in two scenes and then appears briefly in a group shot towards the end. His Theatre Action Group colleagues -- the late Rituraj and Divya Seth -- have bigger roles.

Many fans of Khan have seen the brief sequences on YouTube. Khan speaks in a high pitched, effeminate voice and wears a sling around his arms. There is really nothing about this appearance of Khan to indicate that one day he would become Bollywood's biggest star.

No surprise then that none of Khan's German fans seemed to recognise the star in the film.

Years after the film was made Khan spoke to journalist Anupama Chopra as she was writing his biography King of Bollywood (2007). Khan told Chopra that he was displeased with the role he was given and since then he had not talked to Roy and Krishen.

When Roy wrote her first novel God of Small Things (1997), her team reached out to Khan inviting him to read a passage from the book at its Mumbai launch. Perhaps because he still held a grudge, Khan refused the invitation.

In her recently published memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me (2025), Roy wrote a whole chapter on the making of Annie. But she made no mention of Khan in the book.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff