{"id":4304,"date":"2026-07-16T08:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4304"},"modified":"2026-07-16T08:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:35:36","slug":"arundhati-roy-on-beatles-ai-and-indie-filmmaking-at-london-indian-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4304","title":{"rendered":"Arundhati Roy on Beatles, AI and Indie Filmmaking at London Indian Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tBooker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy discussed the unauthorized use of Beatles songs in \u201cIn Which Annie Gives It Those Ones,\u201d the growing presence of artificial intelligence in cinema, and the handmade aesthetic of independent filmmaking during a Q&A at BFI Southbank on July 15, following the U.K. premiere of the film\u2019s 4K restoration.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer\u2019 Boarded by Autlook Ahead of Locarno Premiere as Clip Debuts (EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tOn the film\u2019s soundtrack, Roy said she and director Pradip Krishen never received a response from the Beatles after asking to use their music. \u201cWe wrote to them and said, \u2018Can we use your music? We love you.\u2019 They didn\u2019t reply,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoy said she saw a continuity between the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and her memoir \u201cMother Mary Comes to Me,\u201d calling it \u201ca worshiping at the altar of those four boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoy also drew a comparison between the film\u2019s low-budget, handmade production and the polish of contemporary cinema, saying she preferred imperfect characters to synthetic ones. \u201cPeople love the people who fumble and stumble and fail and are fucked up, and not the beautiful AI-generated characters on Ozempic,\u201d Roy said, drawing laughter from the audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tDiscussing the making of the film, Roy said it was shot on essentially no budget, with hand-lettered credits and sketches she made herself. She described the scrappiness of the production as reflective of student life at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s just a kind of radical freedom there in these ragged students,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n

Read more Will Ferrell\u2019s Lackluster Golf Comedy \u2018The Hawk\u2019 Is No \u2018Talladega Nights\u2019: TV Review<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe screening was part of the 17th London Indian Film Festival and marked the film\u2019s U.K. premiere following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Film Heritage Foundation carried out the restoration with Krishen\u2019s involvement, working with lab partner L\u2019Immagine Ritrovata. The team drew on surviving elements including a 16mm negative and matching soundtrack held by the National Film Archive of India, along with a 35mm print from Film Heritage Foundation\u2019s own collection.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoy co-wrote and starred in the film alongside Roshan Seth, Arjun Raina and Rituraj, with an early cameo from Shah Rukh Khan. She went on to write \u201cThe God of Small Things,\u201d which won the Booker Prize in 1997, and more recently published the memoir \u201cMother Mary Comes to Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe appearance came several months after Roy withdrew from the Berlin Film Festival over its refusal to comment on Gaza.<\/p>\n

Read more Sundance Institute Sets Talent Development Pact With UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arundhati Roy discussed unpaid Beatles songs, AI-generated characters and indie filmmaking during a London Indian Film Festival Q&A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1505,3484,1506,1507],"class_list":["post-4304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-arundhati-roy","tag-bfi","tag-in-which-annie-gives-it-those-ones","tag-london-indian-film-festival"],"yoast_head":"\nArundhati Roy on Beatles, AI and Indie Filmmaking at London Indian Film Festival - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4304\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arundhati Roy on Beatles, AI and Indie Filmmaking at London Indian Film Festival - 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