Arundhati Roy on Beatles, AI and Indie Filmmaking in London
In a Q&A at the London Indian Film Festival, arundhati roy beatles and AI remarks stood out: she said she and director Pradip Krishen never received a reply after requesting Beatles music permission for 'In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,' and she criticized the polish of AI-made characters. The message matters for creators and audiences alike.
Roy’s comments landed during the festival’s screening of the film’s 4K restoration, adding fresh urgency to a conversation about creative freedom, authorship, and how new technology changes what audiences see on screen. For more festival-to-screen coverage, keep an eye on Streaming & TV Alerts. The remarks were reported by Variety.
Key Takeaways
- Roy said she and Pradip Krishen asked the Beatles for permission to use music and never received a response.
- She argued for imperfect, human characters and questioned AI-generated “polish” in cinema.
- She emphasized the handmade, low-budget spirit of independent filmmaking.
- The festival event also highlighted the UK run of the film’s newly restored version.
Why did Arundhati Roy bring up the Beatles songs?
At the BFI Southbank Q&A on July 15, Roy discussed the unauthorized use of Beatles songs in her 1989 campus comedy, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones. She said she and Krishen wrote to the Beatles asking to use their music and that they “didn’t reply,” framing the outcome as a practical permission failure rather than an attempt to sidestep rights.
That detail matters because it turns a widely discussed piece of film history into a live ethics question: what do creators owe rightsholders when the request process fails, especially when the work is built on a specific soundtrack identity?
What was Roy's take on AI characters in cinema?
Roy also connected her experience of making an indie film to what she sees happening now as AI grows more present in cinema. She drew a contrast between the “fumble and stumble” of real people and the “beautiful AI-generated characters” she criticized as overly polished, prompting laughter from the audience.
Rather than treating AI as automatically “bad,” Roy used the festival platform to defend a particular kind of character texture: the messiness of humans that can make a story feel lived-in, not manufactured.
How did Roy describe the indie feel of her handmade film?
Roy described the production of In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones as scrappy and constrained. She said it was shot on essentially “no budget,” with handmade touches like hand-lettered credits and sketches she made herself.
In her telling, that roughness wasn’t an accident; it reflected a “radical freedom” in the world of ragged students and helped define the film’s aesthetic identity.
Where is the 4K restored 'In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones' screening?
The screening at the London Indian Film Festival marked the UK premiere of the film’s 4K restoration. The restoration, according to Variety reporting, was handled by the Film Heritage Foundation with involvement from Krishen and work with L’Immagine Ritrovata, using surviving elements including a 16mm negative and a matching soundtrack held by the National Film Archive of India, alongside a 35mm print from Film Heritage Foundation’s collection.
With the restored version bringing the film back into circulation, Roy’s Beatles and AI comments land not just as opinions from a Q&A, but as a lens for watching the work anew: how music permissions, handmade filmmaking, and modern tech all shape what we recognize as “authentic” on screen.