No Smoking

Anurag Kashyap is the wannabe maverick genius of Bollywood. (I say wannabe because the official maverick genius is Ram Gopal Varma :-). His films either do not finish, or do not get released or release years later. After the solid 'Black Friday', it was difficult to ignore his next release and so I went to watch 'No Smoking'.

No Smoking is a puzzle. It is a maze through the uncharted territories in Hindi cinema. Kashyap has donned a David Lynch hat this time. He unpacks a bag of questions on the screen for you which you have to find answers for yourself. And that, he backs up with excellent technical support from all other departments, so that you are not distracted in your search for answers.

I'll be honest. I did not really understand the film but I guess that is the way Kashyap wants it to be. He wants me to unravel the layers of the film as and when I have time. In that process, when I'd have soaked myself thoroughly in 'No Smoking', I'll let it go, not caring to be bothered by it anymore. Just like K (John Abraham's character) does to his cigarette.

a) Is cigarette a metaphor for all the things we lust for which only destroy us at the end? (I'm reminded of the line from 'Pulp Fiction' where Bruce Willis' girl friend tells him how things that are good to touch are not good to look at, referring to a pot belly) b) Is Paresh Rawal's character actually God? Is he the villain because he does not let us pursue our lust and plays by his rules - rules which cannot be bent or broken? c) In the end, does someone always have to really loose his soul and conscience? Can this world no go round if everyone owns his soul till the end?

I don't know if these are the questions that No Smoking asks. But it did force me to think of these.

The film is a technical accomplishment. The camera work, the set designs and graphics are all top notch. Tin cans were stacked up to create amazing visuals (you don't always need Switzerland :-). Music is in tune with the film and Gulzar, as always, has written lyrics that are sign-posts in this maze. Kudos also to Kumar Mangat and Vishal Bharadwaj for having the guts to produce such a film.

John Abraham is good. He always manages to do well in caught-on-all-sides characters. Paresh Rawal shines in his role. It was a relief to see him at some place other than a mindless Priyadarshan muddle.

No Smoking, no doubt, is at par technically with the best in the world but sadly enough, it has very little conventional entertainment value. It may be one of the milestones that Kashyap had to cross in his path to higher glories.

There is no doubt left in my mind, that Anurag Kashyap is the next big thing in Bollywood. He is probably the best Indian director for a long time, after the great Satyajit Ray. After his controversial debut in the industry with Paanch, and Black Friday, he delivers this classy act with No Smoking. Truth be told, I was a bit skeptical about this film. A few of my friends had already had a glimpse of it and warned me against going for it, but I gave it a shot nonetheless. And I'm not complaining.

No Smoking is not your traditional movie. Its not targeted to be a box office hit, because simply 9/10 people will find it stupid, boring and curse Mr.Kashyap to be a raving lunatic. But in the truest of sense, there could not have been any better addiction movie than No Smoking. We have had Requiem For a Dream, Trainspotting in Hollywood, but this the first time we have an Indian story to it. True No Smoking is even more abstract than both, but it also follows a complicated theory. One which is iterated by the Guruji(Paresh Rawal) of the Hindu knowledge of the soul, consciousness, and the Vedas.

What is the basic theme of the movie is that every addiction has its core in the consciousness, the soul and we have to purify the soul in order to rid us of the addiction. The entire movie we are thrown into possibilities where the antagonist, K (John Abraham) is comprehending what is right or wrong. And that is not restricted to his addiction but all judgments in his life. Whether or not to cheat on someone's wife, or whether or not to trust someone, whether or not in his actions/inactions he is unintentionally causing anyone harm. Which is why we see he is made to believe his wife's death, his brother's suicide is his doing. But this is what his subconscious is telling him. This is what the cure is trying to tell him.

The treatment that the Guruji is giving him is completely psychological. We find all the patients/relatives of the people who have been to see the "Prayogshala" is admitted to a ward which is made by the Prayogshala itself. People will misinterpret as an emotional blackmail, but in truth its cleansing the soul. We see that the antagonist feels claustrophobic at the end of the end of his dream. He says that his throat is parched and he needs a smoke, when he breaks a window and rushes to the middle of nowhere to get a smoke. The dream of Siberia, the Russian soldier shooting him(although no blood comes out) is all an indication that this is not real, its the journey of the soul, a pathway to cure of his afflictions. We find many clues to this right from the start to the end, to the point when he is desperately trying to prove to the cops that he didn't murder his wife, we find him going all ends out to prove that he is innocent, but somehow nothing works out, since HE has been living a dream, and he just woke up, so his stories are not matching up. This is something novel that Fincher did in the legendary "Fight Club"

We find in the end the real K, looking out as if searching for a long lost friend, but in real he was searching for his soul, which was waiting to be cleansed, and as his soul his bathed in fire, it is cleansed and is returned to him. About the missing fingers, well everyone thought that was another torture device, but did anyone notice the fingers missing ?? They were the index finger and the middle finger, the ones we use to smoke. They are taken from the patient as a precaution. And the journey of the soul is complete only when he convinces another of his kin to undergo the same procedure, then his finger is returned to him.

The movie was like I said, superb, and instead of praising any of the actors, well, this is a all in all Kashyap movie throughout. It didn't matter who was the actor, true John Abraham has done a remarkable job, but the genius that Kashyap is, made this movie so good. The direction and screenplay made this the success that it is. The script was just too good, and the sets used, (which I think were real locations actually) were also marvelous. Also the small glimpses of cheap visual effects makes it even more brilliant to show the journey of the soul. The soundtrack is also too good. Apart from the Hindi numbers exclusively for the movie, we are also treated with lots of melodious oldies starting from Frank and Nancy Sinatra to others, and to careful notice one can see that all these songs were about smoking. Paresh Rawal is also excellent in his role as the Guruji, he makes it look so easy. Ayesha Takia is again just a pretty face in this movie, without not much chance to prove herself.

Lastly this review would be incomplete without a special credit to the masterful, artful Anurag Kashyap. He made a movie about a social peril, about smoking, and he made it look so easy, that it was just brilliant. He has well proved his merit over all other contemporaries. It is just pathetic that people still want to watch stupid remakes by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, irritating soap/family dramas by Karan Johar, and utter bullshit from the likes of Farah Khan, Sajid Khan when they always have options of watching brilliant stuff from this man. This perhaps is my longest review but you also don't get to see such exquisite movies such as No Smoking everyday. 9/10 !!!

Throw away the colorful clothes, all the expensive jewellery and welcome to realistic cinema.

A theme which is hard to make a movie on, attempted by a writer/director of many realistic movies like Black Friday and Satya.

What appears on the screen is true magic of a director who thinks a different way. A second of this movie cannot be missed, a minute is as good as not watching the movie.

Put on your thinking caps for a movie. See, visualize, enthrall.

This movie is a must-watch for those who love change, who love to think about every scene in the movie and analyze.

Commercial? -- 0% value.

Cinematic Experience? - 200% value.

It did take me two full times to watch this movie to understand the whole concept of this movie.

It did make me think 10 times before I touched my next cigarette.

I applaud you Mr Anurag Kashyap. Screw the critics who slammed you.

Hmmm… so didn't we think "abstract art" is a term coined to be used only for paintings or photographs or at best sculptures or any form of art that is static? Whenever we thought of an abstract cinema, most of us would start and stop at Shyam Benegal.

But Anurag Kashyap with his latest film, changes lots of definitions and perceptions. No doubt Shayam Benegal brand of cinema is one of the USPs of Indian film Industry. But usually in that brand of cinema you could see through Director's brain by the end. You could make out what was the film maker trying to portray. But Anurag Kashyap keeps his card close to his chest till the end. It's hard to define if it was a good thing to do or bad. But the fact remains that there would be numerous questions in your mind after watching this film with various possible answers and none of the answer being totally right or totally wrong. This is peak of vivid imagination. This is stuff dreams are made of.

Anurag, the director of highly rated Black Friday, shows that there is an intelligent film maker in there who dares to think away from ordinary. This bold attempt may not fetch him commercial success every time, but one thing is for sure that we have a film maker who makes film he believes in and not for making money. This is a good sign for Indian cinema. He gives a new dimension to Art Cinema. Every few reels, you can feel proud that you have got to the crux of the events going on screen, you can soar sky high. But then suddenly you realize that you don't have wing, the film takes an unimaginative new turn and you are left where you started.

With stunning cinematography, amazing art work, superb direction and high class acting, this certainly is an experience of its own kind. John Abraham looks sexy with his hot 6 packs. Paresh Rawal is as good as it gets. Ayesha Takia is decent.

Don't try to find or infuse any sense or logic of your own, just watch what is shown, be it lady singing in Adnan Sami's voice or a bath tub in Siberia opening in underground world in Mumbai, and you might like the ride.

I watched this movie once and couldn't resist myself from watching it again only 10 mins later. A black metaphor of life, which poses some serious questions to the thinking mind. Lust, and how far can you go to pursue your lust? What if some supernatural entity is destined to stop you from committing the lust? And what if the darker side of nature forces you to commit it?

Questions answered and many others unanswered.. this is a movie brilliantly crafted; though at times the pace is slackened. And who says its a copy of the Game? The questions this movie asks and forces us to think is totally different from the game. The treatment of this movie is very different, but i am afraid this difference will become too much for the general audience to grasp or to digest.

Kudos to you Anurag Kashyap, for giving hungry people like me ( those who have hunger for watching movies which are a class apart) a classic movie to feast upon, on the risk of losing most of your other customers.