BERLINALE CLASSICS 2026: India’s cult classic In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones makes the cut

Berlinale Classics 2026 is establishing itself as one of the festival’s most globally curious sections, showcasing ten restored films from nine countries, with Ukraine represented for the first time. Among the discoveries is Kryshtalevyi Palats ( Crystal Palace , 1934), a rare Ukrainian title now returning to international view. Another first for the section arrives via animation: Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s cult anime landmark Jubei Ninpucho ( Ninja Scroll ), a reminder that restoration is no longer confined to canonical live-action cinema.

One of the most anticipated premieres this year comes from India – and from a film that nearly disappeared – In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones . The festival is scheduled to be held in Berlin from February 12–22.

‘PRADIP KRISHEN’S FILM WAS TRULY PATHBREAKING’’

The restoration work of In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones was undertaken by the Film Heritage Foundation, which recovered the best surviving elements, including the original 16mm camera and sound negatives preserved at the National Film Archive of India – and repaired extensive damage. The work was completed at L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, following more than a year of manual repair, digital restoration, colour grading, and sound reconstruction.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, director of the Film Heritage Foundation, says the film represents exactly the kind of work preservation exists to protect. He shares, “This was a pathbreaking film – irreverent, idiosyncratic, and arguably India’s first true ‘English’ film. Not British English or American English, but Indian English, with all its texture and specificity.”

A restored 4K version of In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones will be screened at Berlinale

Director Pradip Krishen shares that the film, shot on 16mm and featuring a distinctly Delhi-inflected Indian English, followed characters who existed outside the conventions of mainstream Indian cinema: westernised, irreverent, politically restless students inventing their own language, humour, and hierarchies. After a single television broadcast, the film quietly vanished, circulating for years only as a rumour and a cult memory.


Written by and starring Arundhati Roy, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989) is a portrait of student life at an architecture school in Delhi in the mid-1970s. In her recent book Mother Mary Comes To Me , Arundhati writes, “It was never meant to be anything more than fun, fringe cinema. But when it finally showed on Doordarshan , it reached an audience of millions, which would otherwise have been impossible for a film like Annie ”

Shah Rukh Khan, who was then a newcomer, also played a small role in the film, which won two National Awards: one for Best Screenplay and the other for Best Film in a Language Other Than Those Specified in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution


Pradip Krishen

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