IN DEFENCE OF THE “I”

Posted by: Anurag Kashyap

Posted on: Nov 15 2007 at 10:47 am

You know when they bring up their children in the mountains, especially in tibet, and their child sees the burning firewood and walks to it, they let him, when he wants to touch it, they let him, when he touches it and screams and cries, they let him , they ignore him, and that’s how the child learns to deal with fire..this is also what the monks do..

My dad always said something that i never forgot..he said “poot sapoot to ka dhan sanchay poot kapoot to ka dhan sanchay”.. it means why do you save money for your children, If your son is a good son he will earn his own, if he turns out to be a brat he will throw it away.. and he never did save and all three of us are independent and had never taken from him, since we left college..

I know a lot of people right here on pfc who wants to be filmmakers but can’t because they do not have the heart to lose their sense of security.. a lot of people do the mundane jobs they don’t want to but do not step out because they get insecure.. rahoonga kahan, khaoonga kya, paise kahan se aayenge, i can love them but not respect them.. the best way to make anyone an individual self is to abandon them.. when you do they stand up on their own and they do not need role models, they go out and do it because there is an urgent need to survive.. that need takes over everything..i write this because people ask me that why did i not explain the end.. You know in Black friday the end was explained, and everyone called it great cinema and they will watch it a zillion times but in the end it remains just that, great cinema..it has stopped bothering people, they don’t think about the 93 bomb blasts.. they do not think about the lives lost, the politics, nothing, they revisist their favourite sequences and say wow and that’s it.. i do not remember such heated discussion anywhere after the BF release, i even tried to initiate it but none happenned.. One lone post was about continuity jerks and cinema issues.. none about the event.. with NS all that has changed..

Why does everyone want to get it? and will you still like it if you do get it? wouldn’t you say-that’s it!!! is that all you were trying to say..

why the eagerness to gen(e)re[alize] everything? why the symbols used have to be perfect? aren’t symbols about “what’s the best way i can say what i want to say, because what i want to say i already know, and i also know if i say it directly they wouldn’t let me” .. so if i do not find the perfect symbolism should i not say it? should i shut up? looks like? should i let go of my soul? what does my soul signify? is it not me? me with my imperfections?

No smoking does not make a valid point, it tortures you and then laughs at you, the same way i have felt the world do..forget the end.. lets come to the begining.. did anyone read what it said, what the film is about is spoken in the three captions in the beginning, but no one wants to connect.. who is abbas, he is a writer, he has lost his two fingers, the ones with which he holds the cigarette and also holds the pen, what does the pen mean to a writer, freedom of expression, and abbas’s freedom is taken, he is soulless and he doesn’t feel anything even while manipulating his friend, and what does he want the most more than his friends, his freedom back.. did anyone decipher that .. no.. they were too busy being thrilled..did anyone listened to what baba had to say.. he did not agree with democracy, he had his own take on it, he is the man who deems himself more powerful which he is, he thrives on who, minorities(woman in veils) and underprivileged(dwarfs) and his fanatics(teeka toting henchmen).. he lives in his own hell..which is hell from the audiences POV.. when K enters there he wishes for an elevator and a much more straighter designs, not the maze of stairs.. he does it straight.. but baba doesn’t..you see the man’s entry but never his exit.. did anyone think of it .. no.. did anyone listen to baba saying aatma, antaratma, bhogi hoti hai use mukt karna padta hai..if you really heard that.. the ending won’t be so strange..there is a definition of democracy i used in GULAAL and tried to use in GURU..

“Democracy is for the (Powerful) people

By the (Powerful) people

Of the (Powerful) people”

the wife, when she decides to leave her husband, she plays inky pinky ponky.. the man to her is as inconsequential as his cigarette, the wife and the secretary .. two different facets of a woman a man wants to see, the complex, dignified trophy wife and the completely servile slut, and what kind of a man is he.. an arrogant fuck up, not the man you would look up to or sympathise with.. do men like those exist.. yes they do.. i am a similar asshole or was or maybe still is.. just more aware that i am a slut too.. it would have been so easy to make him sympathetic and today i really wish i did make him sympathetic.. baba bengali is winning or has won.. did any one hear the song phoonk de .. the words spoken in english ..

“you have travelled a hole…………to………you will now experience the power to change the semantic sensory feel that influences the final consequences of your journey, you are now at the limits of the multi(uni)verse but not beyond the space of this stream”

Noone heard that.. what does that prove .. that people do not listen and either they are deaf (like in the film) or they don’t want to pay so much attention.. it creates the same situation as in the film.. this film was my angst and now mirrors my life.. only difference being i know what’s happening .. it was expected and i have learnt from it.. will be more accessible next time.. i swear everyone, even the infant will understand what i am trying to say in HANUMAN RETURNS.. i need that to survive, and survivor i am..

OK so getting back to explaining what i intended, admitting i wasn’t so successful at it.. from the point K falls into the water in the police station(there is a voice over there too- jin jin logon ne poore paise nahi bhare hain etc,that connects it with the last scene), it is the journey of the soul, by which i mean the internal agony of the man, trying to make a choice, trying to decipher what did he do to deserve this, is this the price one pays for his ego, to choose between the cigarette and the bathtub, and when he chooses the bathtub he is choosing to negate himself hence being completely owned by the baba..

it is not just the body that looses soul, it’s also the soul(read idealism, belief, spirit) loosing a body.. that gets evaporated while it is watching.. the idea is lost..

Now where that comes from.. i wrote a poem on my wall years ago when i was doped out.. my idea of an ego, my interpretation of selfishness..

A big drop of sperm was falling from the sky

Mother (earth ) quaked for it and conceived it

and I bloomed out

That is how the idea was born..

I do not want to bore anyone, but that explains it ,my POV, ego comes from I and I is when you have an idea of self.. and selfishness is not that shallow definition of what you can take or gain from others.. to me

“Selfishness is the ferocity with which you protect the I”

, hence the “Idea” and to the world “your Ego”..and arrogance is just a defence mechanism that the selfish man has against the enemy..

And the fact that i have the need to defend myself proves that i have yet not perfected selfishness or maybe i am too clever and know exactly what i am doing.. my argument is should a man be punished for his arrogance.. yes if he harms others by doing the act.. but what if his arrogance is aloof.. who is he harming except himself..

there are many interpretations floating around of the film.. well i lost my authority over the film the day it released.. it was open to interpretation like any work of art or anything pretending as a work of art.. but various interpretations do provoke a thought in my subconscious.. did i really intend that, i don’t know.. the whole film was stewed over in my head over last eight years, years ago it was a straight story from quitters inc ( the first half of it, because that is how much ramu told me) , but it kept changing with my life.. i don’t even know when and how it became my story, i only realised it after writing it.. i wrote it in one flow like everyother script over two days or three..it was a stream of subconscious.. i just wrote..

and now i have learnt.. that success is important.. and i have learnt that the audienca needs to be served and i will.. but i would rather provoke them than please them, i would rather force them to go back to the world they came from than provide an escape route, i would rather unsettle them than to put a smile on there face, i would rather make them feel impotent than to make them feel virile, i would rather show them the mirror than show them a photograph of their best selves, i would rather make their nightmare come true than realise their dreams..but this time they would know what’s happening.. they will know it while they are getting raped.. they will understand every bit of it.. none are going to lose their modesty without knowing it..

I have learnt my lesson..and with that i try to say goodbye to no smoking and apologise once and for all to all those who wasted their time and money over it.. Better luck next time..

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558 Responses to “IN DEFENCE OF THE “I””

PRPgaddar on November 15th, 2007 11:13 am

you’ve killed a part of all that’s resonated with you by saying this

and here we were, thinking we had a chance

Errata on November 15th, 2007 11:14 am

i did. i did it all..left the safety of the regular employment, the saftety net of the parents, the family, one year into marriage..asked her to take care of the rent, the house, the life…and took the plunge.

made a lousy looking film with a concept i believed in with 10 grand..

but i did it…am still proud of it. and only because of you anurag.

since then have made two more. each with increasing budgets. am being paid for what i wanna do.

and again i repeat..its cause of u.

today im at a crossroad, am being offered what my peers want the most, a commercial film…can i do it? i want to..so bad.

but the dilemnas never end. creativity vs commercial returns. if i make a 0.1% of no smoking, ill die a happy man..but if i do that,,my producer backs out..if i make what he wants me to make…i cant sleep at night.

questions, answers and conscience.

i salute u sir.

Sourav on November 15th, 2007 11:23 am

Well..finally..good write up…ths could satiate a lot of queries floated since the release of NS.Quite deep..good!!

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:26 am

PRP we still have a chance.. you are the chance.. think about that.. and when you do it i will stand up and applaud you..

I am still me.. just would be more accesible

jitender on November 15th, 2007 11:27 am

People want the safe confines of there homes,their regular jobs , marriege kids and all those sort of normal things in life.But all this is a somewat boring and tiresome for few men, who dare to think different and wana enjoy the teen patti of life and the big risks attached to it.

You dont have to defend wat u have done with this movie or any other thing in life , you just did wat u felt.How many people have the guts to do wat they really wana do without caring about wat others will think.You are the only judge of u r own creations.

Dazed&Confused on November 15th, 2007 11:30 am

Anurag- As I have requested in another place, please have your commentary on the DVD when it releases.

And maybe just like Vishal Bhardwaj tries to make a children’s movie every couple of films, maybe you can too. Make your kind of movie whenever you can. Have the cake and eat it.

Sourav on November 15th, 2007 11:35 am

Why do you have to apologise..even to the people who could not quite connect with you? You want to be mass accessible..would not that manifest into selling outto an extent and lose your arrogance? It is the individual arrogance which helps to survive..personally in my case too!

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:38 am

Dazed, Hanuman is my childrens movie.. Vishal’s children films are more mature than the adult hits which is why he is a great filmmaker.. my children’s film is entertainment and nothing else and it is called Hanuman returns..

as far as the DVD is concerned i don’t know, i have put across my intention to do a commentary, and now it’s upto them..

Errata..do it

NoVaDJ on November 15th, 2007 11:40 am

Anurag,

When I first butted heads with you on PFC I became angry with you and then decided to watch BF and I wrote a comment about it, but you must have not read it, because I told you that besides being a great movie I had learned about an event I had never heard of. Your movie to me was like a history class and it did bother me to know innocent lives were lost, so I thank you for that history lesson.

Even though I loved NS I think it would be interesting to see what you do with straight forward storytelling and then maybe you will find your success in India or you might have to set your sites to somewhere beyond India.

….BUT, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have ventured beyond my masala Bollywood films. I wouldn’t have gone from BF to NS to Manorama and eventually even opening up to older Indian cinema like Sholay which Tony Mera advised me to watch. If it wasn’t for you I would have said “I don’t want to watch that old fashioned stuff”, but I opened up to Tony’s suggestion because I had my mind opened up by you.

Anyway, I doubt if my words will mean a lot to you,but I felt moved to write them after reading this new blog…..and I hope in the future someone will eventually apologise to you.

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:42 am

Saurav.. i tried hard to stay off PFc before i realised it is my life.. I am here.. more so because i have not finished either talking or doing..

My apology is to people who paid money to see the film after seeing the bipasha song, which was a mistake, a con to get an opening, and wasn’t the film.. the apology is not for the movie.. but for the deciet of which i became a part..

kalakar on November 15th, 2007 11:43 am

Hey Anurag,

Even though i still haven’t seen no smoking,

i can understand your predicament and believe that you are truly gifted(not just as a film maker but also as a human being)and also ahead of time.you are not arrogant you are a stand alone army trying to hold on to ur slice of land and fighting a brigade of the spineless s’BUT THE FUCK UP is that everyone wants everything instant-solutions,results,sex,noodles and also entertainment(not neccessarily in that order).Nowadays they want to leave their brains behind and spend their hard earned money on senseless flicks..how the hell will they understand No smoking my friend??!! Some of my friends who has seen the film,loved it n told me i’ll quit smoking after watching it(i wonder) :)Well if you didn’t quit while making it i don’t think i will after watching it.

;)cheers.

Errata on November 15th, 2007 11:43 am

and not sleep at night? lose face to an extent where i cant face myself? face u?

on the other hand…can i run my house doing what i want to do…the way i want to?

on one side is a chance to make something with my name..which may just turn out to be an outlandish comedy…an alan smithee film anyone?

on the other hand i may never get this kind of a chance again?

it tears me every day..and as d day approaches…i hate to keep lying about my sensiblities for work.

Devils Advocate on November 15th, 2007 11:44 am

HEy Anurag glad to have you back.. I haven’t posted much- as of yet- but I know its never to late to start. Btw can you send me your email address at yatra55@gmail.com. I had written something the day I watched “no smoking”. I would rather you read it first and if you feel fit you can repost it on PFC. thanks man. Keep on reinventing indian cinema and open the floodgates for us aspiring directors

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:45 am

Novadz i really just want to slowly find an audience like everyone else and a large one.. and i read everything on PFC.. it is my world.. i belong here.. and i really appreciate you for being open and i regret my meanness to you..

Dazed&Confused on November 15th, 2007 11:46 am

NoVaDJ- Sholay will never become ‘Older Indian Cinema’. It is evergreen like Rekha and good Scotch :)

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:48 am

Errata.. do it .. do them both.. one for the money and other for the road.. did i not do shaka laka and main aisa hi hoon and lot’s more.. do one for your yourself and one for the way to do it for yourself..lie.. cheat..kill for it..

devil’s check your mail..

Madhav on November 15th, 2007 11:50 am

It may well be impossible to be entirely true to one’s self and one’s vision while ensuring a good reception at the hands of the audience. Limitations brought about by budgets and consequences do inevitably weigh us down. I made a short film called

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:53 am

Madhav..balance can be anywhere.. but i think one should strike balance in life but not in individual piece of work.. one dish can not and should not try to cater to everyone.. it can wish it but not do it.. make two dishes to strike the balance and more if need be, but each individual dish should be true to itself..

Errata on November 15th, 2007 11:54 am

thx for this and more.

you gave me a boost in morale when i was at my lowest in life. u gave me a new lease in life. so please forgive me if i come across the way i do.

ill do it..i just hope my conscience allows me too.

ill do this for the money, but the one for the road..is the one which you’ll do..or at least i hope so.

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:55 am

I failed to do it.. because i made the film i wanted to but used the bipasha song to advertise it.. and that is what i am paying for.. that was a mistake..

Vishal K Bharadwaj (er, not that one!) on November 15th, 2007 11:55 am

No apologies necessary, as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t seen Black Friday (I don’t think it released here in Dubai), and I wasn’t planning on going to see No Smoking, but then the overwhelmingly negative reviews started pouring in from the usual suspects, and that told me it had to be good!

I enjoyed every second of it. I know a lot of people will tell you that it is a profound film, a work of art etc. etc. (and don’t get me wrong, it is all that) but let me tell you that I was *entertained* for two hours. There haven’t been many movies this year — Hindi especially — that have done that (the last one was Honeymoon Travels).

Like you say, once the film was released it was out of your hands, but I’m glad to read your take on some of the themes and elements in there. Yes, I did notice the English voice over in phoonk de. No, I didn’t find any part of the film confusing (but then, I didn’t find MF Hussain’s Meenaxi confusing either). It’s been a long time since a big, juicy and sumptuously intelligent movie has come along, and you delivered. And how.

Any issues I had with the film were miniscule. Okay, okay, so the English subtitles were’t great (they never are in Hindi films, always full of Indian grammar), mostly because of the dozens of swear words that just seemed to be thrown in there even when they weren’t any in the spoken dialogue. As a graphic designer I also had a few issues with the comic speech bubbles, but that’s just my own pet peeve.

Believe it or not, the short bits of nudity when the gas chamber bit is on tv actually made it past the Dubai censors. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think they were paying attention :P

Whatever your next project is, I hope you approach it with the same intelligence, passion and finesse that you brought to No Smoking.

You now officially have one more fan, and are guaranteed at least two people will see your next movie (me and whoever I drag along).

V

Sourav on November 15th, 2007 11:56 am

Yea..that makes sense…apology justified to an extent…the movie was dangerously niche..too niche..with your post..the puzzlepieces which was slightly loose at the end..with minor gaps..are tightened. Very brave atempt..Dont know how you managed the transition from sript to screen…half the people always lose the insight in transit.

Devils Advocate on November 15th, 2007 11:56 am

thanks mate… I am at work right now so expect something within a few hours… glad to see a prompt reply though… I agree slowly but surely PFC is becoming my life… I find myself on it more so than work work!!! I am glad I am taking some time off to visit India and perhaps get inundated with the fim business first hand… a long winding road ahead but wouldn’t have it any other way!!!

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:58 am

Errata.. You know No Smoking i think was necessary.. because this one film taught me more about the world than my thirteen years in the industry.. we all learn more from our failures..

What is important is how you protect your baby and not how the world judges you in the process of doing so..

NoVaDJ on November 15th, 2007 12:06 pm

@Anurag

Thank you for that ,because I was feeling down today and you made me feel better….

@Dazed&Confused

I almost wrote the word classic, but I wasn’t sure what it was considered…..all I know is watching it was an experience and I’ll be showing Sholay to all my friends! I also recently saw “The Burning Train”, which except for a few unfortunate obvious model train shots was still suspensful.

Madhav on November 15th, 2007 12:09 pm

Thanks Anurag, for your quick response.

I’m new to PFC and recently made a submission for the one minute film contest.

I write regularly and have a few screenplays worked out. Do drop me a line at madhav@bad-alliteration.com if you have the time or inclination to take a look at some of them.

Errata on November 15th, 2007 12:11 pm

i agree. that one baby of mine is what has had me going on till now. cant get it out of my head…

i hope it makes that one person proud because of whom it has reached where it has today.

no smoking was necessary.. i agree..it may have been too ahead of its times…

when i wrote that one script and made it into a film…the ridicule, the humiliation taught me a lot..and today when i am at this stage..i dunno whether to rejoice or not.

failure has made me take everything with a pinch of salt. to a point where its difficult to be anything but a pessimist.

but that had changed when i saw NS.

i paid for my entire friend circle to see the film. and i wasnt disappointed. me and my wife spoke about it on the bike on the way home, at home over dinner, at breakfast, post work..and we were still not finished.

ditto for a few of my friends.

but with that one film, anurag you may not have gained commercial gains…what you have given is hope…tothe industry (though they may not realize it now), to people like me and to those who would see this is as not an arrogant piece of work, but one of true angst and desire for change

NoVaDJ on November 15th, 2007 12:13 pm

Anurag,

I’m sure you learned a lot about visual effects on NS ,so that was worth it also. My favorite was the heat effect that sometimes moved about the frame.

Anand Kadam on November 15th, 2007 12:14 pm

Anurag,

every one has their insecurities and very few get beyond it….ppl like me are dieing to make films and make it accessible to the world….but there is other world in which we live..we need to support our family….earn our bread (paying emi’s)…and our conscience doesn’t allow to be selfish to chase our dreams….may be some years later when we are financially secure we can go ahead…but then will it be late ?….definetly not late to chase our dreams but about acheiving them , i dont know….

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 12:23 pm

Anand.. you know it but you are scared to addrees it..

TO DO IS TO BE

TO BE IS TO DO

DO BE DO BE DO

it defines all of us .

what you want to do is not necessarily what you do.. but what you do becomes you in the way u are perceived..

i have paid my EMI’s and my rent regularly and have learnt to seperate what i do for myself and for others to be able to do it for myself..

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 12:24 pm

Vishal K Bharadwaj.. just one word.. thanks

NoVaDJ on November 15th, 2007 12:29 pm

Sorry for the multiple posts, but all thoughts are coming to me at once….

When will the NS DVD be released? I used to hate EROS DVD’s because they were mastered all wrong, but now that they have merged with Ayngaryn their last few releases were great. They now master in HD and picture quality is excellent and they put lots of extras on them. It would be cool to have a Director’s Cut and you could do it anyway you want.

It’s funny about the merger because I wrote EROS a long email explaining how awful their quality was and that they should find out how and where Ayngaryn master’s their DVD’s and a few months later they merged!:o

Machchar on November 15th, 2007 12:32 pm

Anurag if you remember I wrote some time back about how important for it is to find commercial success and stability before even attempting anything unconventional as these fuckers in the industry will dabao you down? We all pinned our hopes on Ramu at one point of time…He had it all..He had the market eating right out of his hand, he had the power to change and encourage a new wave, instead, he took a different route and we all became discouraged.

First show these fuckers the mirror before giving them a painting, that’s what they deserve now…later on…you can slowly make your move…you can’t shock these people suddenly….

Anand Kadam on November 15th, 2007 12:36 pm

Anurag,

That is exactly what i am trying to learn…to balance your needs and your dreams… i will be glad enough to chase my dreams..even if i dont achieve them(hoping to achieve them though)…..

BTW No smoking rocked for me…i have already seen it thrice..and now hoping to catch it on dvd whenever it is out….my wife hated it but i dragged her to view it with me all the times….

rick on November 15th, 2007 12:38 pm

anuraag sir i might be too young and inferior to comment on any film for that matter, atleast for now but i never understood why you talked so much about your failure and short comings, ur apologies

BUT, you never said anuthing about the marketing strategy for the film which if you ask anyone was far below the standard, why didnt you market the film properly?? push hard to make it a success, get people in just for curiosity. it seemed to me that you were done just by making the film.

AND WHY WHY WHY? do you apologise to the people who came in after watching the bipasha song, i thought you believed that one has to do everything in his power to get success, and if you can get people into the theatre by showing a song, then WHY NOT!!!

to me that is just intelligent marketing not cheating the audience.

P.S- love ur film, hopefully you will follow this up with another shocker.

thank you for the experience.

Uma on November 15th, 2007 12:50 pm

Saw No Smoking yesterday and I loved it better than most of the movies this year ! Still thinking about the movie :-? . I don’t understand how anyone can’t appreciate this movie ! I liked Black Friday but NS was even better.

I think the critics have been completely dumbed down by the quality of the Hindi movies they watch and review all the time. To hell with their opinions ! I just hope that after getting slammed by these “critics” , AK won’t change his style of movie making and start trying to cater to the so called commercial movie public.

triplesix on November 15th, 2007 1:05 pm

hmmmm….well,money isn’t everythin….

my parents have been divorced for quite some time…dn’t remember even,but it hurts…n it still does…

my point here is…eventhough i’m financially secured…i dn’t have anyone with me…my mom,dad n bro.all live separately…my bro thinks tht whatever he has achieved till now is thnkfully due to my parents separation….but i’m still mum about my opinions,cos i’m still directionless….i dn’t know if i should be thankful like my brother,cos i’m gettin the opportunity to live on my own…make my own decisions…i have no one to answer anythin…if i want i could just go around fulfillin my pleasure with any tom,dick n harry…but i won’t…there’s still somethin tht i’m lookin forward to….i still miss somethin tht we all four of us had in the past…

i dn’t even know what i’m complaining about…stayin in this city(sorry,i don’t want to reveal certian information),for the last 5 years…from one place to another…shift,move out and thrown out too(well, the third one was because i refused to go with my owner’s nasty agreement…dn’t mind his nasty remarks than agree with somethin tht will make me lose myself completely…

mom n dad call me everyday….tht’s really nice of them…but i know deep within tht they want to know if i’m being a brat takin advantage of the situation…whereas,it’s the opposite…i can’t even think of doin it cos of it….

kashyap…i like callin u this….i dn’t know exactly what i’m tryin imply here by writting all this…i just felt,after readin u post,tht i could write somethin…eventhough it’s random n probably mindless too…u just gave me the opportunity to write it…

i dn’t expect a reply from u for this,cos i’m pretty sure u havn’t got most of what i have written…i’m being open here,but it’s not completely open yet…i have forgotten how to be candid with my feelings…u r really good with tht…i’ve lost in touch with it….

they say tht men are the most difficult beings..as in,a lot has been potrayed in the films..for instance,no smokin…but i think i’m one of the kinds too…n i refuse to mellow down…y is it necessary tht women remain the most calm on?….i wish there was a character like this too in our films….a mystery tht refuses to be solved…

sorry about the whole nonsense stuff tht i have written….but i thnk u for the moment,cos i have felt somethin….n also somethin missin…

kalakar on November 15th, 2007 1:21 pm

Arey Anurag ji kahe maafi maang rahe ho.Aapne no smoking banaai,logon ne paisa lagaya kyonki unhen aap pe vishvaas tha..aab agar har film banane se pehle ya phir banane ke duraan iss baat ka pata chal jaye ki film hit hai ya miss to in bechhare critics ka to dhanda hi baand ho jayega!!Aapne ek imandar film banaye thodi over the top hone ki vajay se aap imandaari se maafi maang rahe ho yeh aap ki sharafat hai…lekin kuch aise bhi hain jo itna bhi nahi karte.

Kal maine ek’blue film’ dekhi…arey wahi saawariya..bahut se sawaal mann mein uthe

1.yeh kaun sa neela shahar hain hamare desh mein?

jahan sab kuch hi neela aur unreal hai.

2.yahan kissi bhi raat ki subah nahi.where people stay indoors during the day and are the creatures of the blue nights.

3.is shahar mein basne wali auratein ya to zyada umer ke hain(begum para and amazing zohra sehgal)with exception being sonam kapoor ya phir prostitutes hain..i thought they should paint the town red instead they painted it blue!

4.A town which is called the old town,but has everything from a local darzi to carpet weaver,meena bazar,a moulin rouge.Where every god every faith exists,-A huge buddha sculpture,mother mary in the background,a mosque..a blessed town indeed but houses only whores.

I don’t look for logic in all the films lekin itna surreal,Kya kahe isse??…Indulgence in the name of cinema.People walked out of the theatre after 30mins..of course i sat thru the blues of saawariya…that too without an apology!!

Abhishek on November 15th, 2007 1:29 pm

How do I explain what I am feeling now after this post,today in the office I was sitting on my desk and was thinking majority of the people hate me…………………….

They look at me with disgust,distaste, and why? because I don’t interact much with them,I just don’t feel like,I remain within myself,that leaves them with an inferiority complex that how can he be so aloof how can he be so arrogant,he shows airs………………………

They try to gain my attention in all possible ways,doing shitty things,mocking,some day could even reach the point of dancing naked in front of me and then I close my eyes and think of Howard Roark,I get broken down within and try to be 1% like him,that gives me strength,power to fight…………..

I feel I go through a nervous beakdown everyday,for people whom I am not concerned with try to barge in my life for no reason at all,call me arrogant but I haven’t hurt them but since I am not a complete Howard Roark I get hurt too and most of the times arrogance only increases,fire increases,passion increases……………….

I wish the world had more of people who would do rather than screw……………

No Smoking is my story,it is the story of every struggling man who thrives in this world of Tooheys’ and I hope I dont end up being a Toohey,even a Steven Mallory would do for me…..

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 1:33 pm

Kalakar.. neela shahar Jodhpur.. maine nahi dekhi par dekhunga jaroor..

666.. man do not give up and i know you won’t and don’t stop expecting..call me kashyap or whatever do not lose yourself..let all the confusion and angst drive you to express.. people who are no good at articulating often create better,,

UMA thanks but btw which city and theatre did you see it at yesterday.. can’t find any place it is still running at..

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 1:35 pm

abhishek just be and they hate you for you can be yourself.. you can laugh at them..

NoVaDJ on November 15th, 2007 1:45 pm

@triplesix

you say money isn’t everything and I feel bad for what you are going thru, but try it without having the money….like me. I’m jaded these days, but money is everything. I tried to end it all last Nov because I couldn’t pay my bills, I hated my job, and my best friends left town and I had no parents .. The doctors that saved me than wanted their money….the only thing that made me feel a little better was watching my Indian movies.

…so be happy that’s one problem you don’t have.

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 1:50 pm

machhar.. i will do that

Bhaskar on November 15th, 2007 1:50 pm

Anurag,

I won’t say I liked your film, but it did make me think….so in it it was succesful.

About the philospohical questions raised by the movie…the world is not really dark as you potray it. People are indeed preoccupied with their own survival, but there is a kinder gentler side to people too.

The journey for I is to go from dependence on people, to independence, and then realize it is really not independent, but interdependent on the world. Whenver in your career you become a big shot - you will start to support other people. The fact that there are no strong people to support budding cinema in India is just a reflection of the current state our society is in. It is not the nature of the world.

“I” and the world have an interdependent relationship. “I” has a debt to the world for its mere existance. Nature supports a person to the extent to which a person is useful to it. If your message/work is useful to the world, the world will support it. Individual is not seperate from nature, it is part of it. Nature is compassionate and very forgiving - its not a dictator as you potray. If there is a devil then there is also a god.

It makes for engaging drama, but it is only a partial truth.

Vishal K Bharadwaj (er, not that one!) on November 15th, 2007 1:55 pm

You’re most welcome, Anurag.

Re: Commentary track

I’d love to see one on the DVD, but if they don’t want to spring for studio time to record one then you could always do one like the Battlestar Galactica people do. They record a rough commentary themselves and put it online as a podcast, so people can play it on their computer or iPod or whatever while they watch the episodes.

The nice side effect of this is that you can be completely candid and uncensored :)

V

dr tushar patel on November 15th, 2007 2:08 pm

u bum!! apology sucks. more u will apologise more people will make u apologise. u should be proud of NO SMOKING. dont let us down who are supporting u and who r inspired by ur so called disaster. if u want to find audience for films like no smoking, help me with what i proposed in

Rome…”independant cinema house”…how to go about it?…. what do we need?…etc. if u bother to reply, then do so on my email as i am leaving PFC in protest of ur apology..cant believe this nonsense from u..STOP APOLOGISING. after NO SMOKING something has changed in the air….have some patience and u will see the fruits of ur effort in the cinema which india is gearing up to make in the future. u r the pioneer…no smoking is the inspiration..so stop being selfish and apologetic. stop sucking the media. be “K”.

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 2:23 pm

doctor sahab like i said earlier apology is not for the film.. for the film is exactly what i wanted to make..

Omprakash Seresta on November 15th, 2007 2:25 pm

I agree with tushar… dont apologize anurag. Saala saare kiye dhare par paani fir gaya…. eagerly waiting for gulal. I hope you are not tampering with it. if you do, make sure you let us know that dvd will have the original director’s cut…

sanjay malhotra on November 15th, 2007 2:54 pm

Anurag,

Any creative art is like a journey which has no end and perfection point. But definately this journey is unique in its own kind… Ups, downs hit, miss, excitement, ideas & theories. That’s why you are in this game. Its not about always winning but its about playing with whole heart and I did see you playing with passion and whole heart in NS.

I watched No Smoking, didn’t like it much but could see the enthusiasm of giving new dimensions to our cinema. That’s what matters.

There is no set formula to create a masterpiece in any form of art. The only thing in our hands is to just keep making what you want to make…One day you will create something which you will not like but people will know you from it…Is it not irony to be in a creative sphere…!

Any how still waiting for more flicks from you .

Sanjay

Abhay P on November 15th, 2007 4:29 pm

AK, you are good are expressing and generating this buzz around your film (or your friend’s films, for that matter) ;)

BF and NS rocked. Making wise, did you have all your scenes penned out in sequence before you started shooting for NS? (is that what they call a “bound” script?). While watching, I couldn’t help wonder, how hard it would be for all the actors and crew to keep track of the story and know the purpose of most of the scenes (which are left to audience interpretation). How did you explain to them? How did you get the right emotions and expressions from the actor?

Sorry to break the tread of super intelligent cinema discussion with my mundane filmmaking questions :d

ashima on November 15th, 2007 5:03 pm

No smoking was quite an experience. One of the funniest and saddest movies I have seen. Made me feel empty and desolate afterwards. And then angry about wasting away. Anger is better than feeling nothing. Sign of life.

Thank you for making this, Anurag.

Guru on November 15th, 2007 5:11 pm

This is what makes you a genius. You come here and apologize for a film that did not pan out the way you calculated it would- get international acclaim, good reviews in the festival circuit….. Now you have all these people stroking your ego and saying -”sirjee… you are such a genius.” Why can’t you just make your films and talk about films as a creative form here instead of going on this “I” trip. It is your accessibility that has all these guys lapping up everything you say and not your creative genius. PFC should not be identified as your blog as it increasingly is, because of this drawing of lines over NS.

sanjeev segan on November 15th, 2007 5:37 pm

hey anurag

I think that the indian audience is not matured enough to accept ur kind of films. There is nothing wrong in the films u’ve made except NS but something has to done to change the mindset of a regular movie buff..A film like swades which is a brilliant example of a socially relevant topic becomes a flop,while a mindless flick like OSO is a supersucess….though srk’s performance in swades was brilliant….people like pankaj kapoor who according to me is the best actor we have today are not commercially acceptable.. Only vishal bhardwaj makes exceptional films with brilliant actors……..Someday i want you to make films like shawshank redemption with pankaj,naseer and co

Nik Patel on November 15th, 2007 6:25 pm

Anurag,

Its good that you accepted it. It’s good that you wants to move on. Didn’t enjoyed your previous blog of thrashing TA and others. Every good moviegoer knows about what they are. Its good that you think about failure of No Smoking. Indian Cinema needs you and you are one person who can make it proud and change it for better.

And yes, philosophy is great but cinema is not always about philosophy.

Nik

Evelyn Tu on November 15th, 2007 6:59 pm

Anurag, you’ve written something important at the top of your article that no one is discussing here, but is on my mind currently.

So many movies make you “feel” something during the time you are in the theater and then it’s forgotten when the lights turn on. It’s as relevant to real life as a roller coaster ride. The movie’s topic is just a means to an emotional release — outrage, tears, laughter — and then you move on. I think Michael Moore’s movies often have that effect, for example.

A movie that provokes and agitates may actually have a real impact.

For me, Black Friday is not a movie without a real effect. It gives me courage to make a documentary about a topic that potentially will piss some people off and hopefully motivate many others to do better. If a few people are not pissed off, then I won’t consider the documentary engaging enough to draw in a broad audience.

But even then, I wonder, is a person who makes movies that expose the truth doing as much good as someone who actually becomes an activist and fights a good fight? It takes a lot of courage to sign your name to your honest thoughts. But are the truly courageous people doing something even greater by going out in the world? Or is there some real satisfaction in setting things in motion with your movies?

And also, you may see yourself as selfish, but your writing here is generous.

P.S. I felt Bipasha was placed at the end of NS because you had sold tickets with her image and then she didn’t fit in the middle anymore, so you still had to deliver her. True?

Saurabh Sinha on November 15th, 2007 7:16 pm

Hi Anurag

Its great to see your post on PFC again! For once, I’d thought you wouldn’t write again (dunno y i thought that). Amazing post..it would have been better if you hadn’t given more details about No Smoking. It took me two viewings (and reading posts on PFC) to get some understanding and I was looking forward to more. The film did not release here, watched it on the net…am looking forward to buying it from Eros website when its uploaded. Any idea when the DVD is releasing?

Am looking forward to more of your films…and thanks for No Smoking.

Saurabh

Gaurav on November 15th, 2007 7:50 pm

what the hell… i now feel cheated… why are you apologizing man… ??

Kunal on November 15th, 2007 8:00 pm

Anurag… u made a brilliant movie ! I m glad to see someone daring not to make usual bollywood crap where ladka meet ladkee, sing-sing song-song lots of them n in the end get married (recent e.g. jab we met).

I wud say movie is for intellectuals… for class nt for mass. Dont appologize for makin sth brilliant.Keep doin the good job. Be proud of ‘I’.

U started the movie with quote from Socrates. Lets

not forget…

“I think therefore I am” !

K.

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 8:39 pm

Evelyn tu- true about bips

gaurav- NS is past, need to make my next.. apology is for Guru and others..you missed the point of the post..

Kunal again apology is for cheating the audience into believing that the film is about the bipasha john song..i am incredibly proud of my film..

Guru sir sorry, am not going to go away..

kavita on November 15th, 2007 8:41 pm

“I think, therefore I am”

Je pense, donc je suis

[ cogito ergo sum ]- Descartes [ 1637 ]

not Socrates.

NoVaDJ on November 15th, 2007 9:01 pm

Anurag,

Most everyone seems to be missing the point of your post, just like they did with NS:-?

Travis Bickle on November 15th, 2007 10:03 pm

It has been almost a month since I

SKF on November 15th, 2007 10:15 pm

Anurag,

I watched NS on pirated DVD because it will never release in my small town. Let me first admit that I am an average viewer. I feel that the movie started brilliantly. I was able to understand everything till last 20-25 minutes. After that I lost it. I was confused and thinking for atleast for next 3 days. My wife asked me about the story. I started narrating her the the story. After five minutes of narration she was really interested. But after that I was just not able to put the point.

Then I realized that NS is an experience. You can never judge NS by reading reviews or WOM. No one except you can narrate or explain NS verbally.

In spite of all the confusion it stayed with me.. and is still with me. Waiting for the DVD with Dir’s Commentary. Overall a great film.

I hope that next time you will keep it little simple.

Kartick on November 15th, 2007 10:15 pm

Had sent you an email on the 27th of Oct. Wanted to know whether you have received it.

premal on November 15th, 2007 10:28 pm

hi sir,

Had mailed you…a major production house frm Hyderabad wants to make their company profile presentation for you..they r getting into live action feature films and desire to meet you for the same..kindly mail me hw we can take this forward..

thnx…

mewani on November 15th, 2007 10:55 pm

Success sells but quality isnt always. One thing I learnt from NS is that if u quit “smoking” ur like will become a hellish experience. Please dont quit “smoking”. We all love it. I know its hard. Govind Nilhani once said in an interview “I have accepted the fact that star sell movie”. An honest confession by a honest person. Something that we cannot change at this moment. But still make the movie u want irrespective of what audience think about it. We are all here to love it.

P(L)AYBACK on November 15th, 2007 10:56 pm

@ Anurag

Hi. Introspection is evolution in disguise.

The apology to your audiences doesnt apply simply because of the mental stimulation that you offered through NS. Dont worry, the OSO brigade didnt bother to purchase tickets to your film anyway ! :)

What makes me really happy is the evolution part. Though there remains a lot of work to do, it warms my heart to see that you will be among the front-liners of a new breed in India which will speak to the world through cinema.

PS : Keeping PFC as a broader base, I believe, creating a more focussed core club which meets up weekly / bi-monthly might be a good idea.

RS on November 15th, 2007 11:05 pm

Anurag,

I have seen your your movies.I feel that you are a very normal person with some creativity.If you work hard you can make some interesting movies.Its sad to see you crying all over to create new wave,self proclaiming genius through your posts.Stop talking nonsense please.And wake up from these pages of PFC.World is different.

Foe me NS is nothing but stupid.No justification can help it or any movie for that matter.My little advise to you is to try and shed this thought that you are above the rest/howard roark/ saviour of inidan cinema.Indian cinema will remain with or without you or anyone.You need cinema.You are just an ordinary talent from the movies you have made so far.Even among the contemporaries you are far below a vishal bharatwaj or raju hirani or Rakesh mehra.If you feel cinema is your medium do your talk through it than through pfc.

Good luck to you.

Amit on November 15th, 2007 11:51 pm

Anurag,

It seems that since you are accessible through this website, people are venting out their years of frustration of watching senseless movies. Atleast, this is true for me. And it was very kind of you to apoligise - that is the least a film maker can do, if he/she gives us a product like NS in lieu of our hard earned money. And I didn’t go to watch your movie because of Bipasha’s gyration but because you have proved yourself time and again as a director as well as a writer. See, either you can go on a egoistic trip and make movies like NS and build a genre of yourself (in that case, there will be a certain intellect of people only, watching your movies and thats perfectly fine) or make movies where people do not feel cheated after leaving the theatre. You cannot mix the two - because what has happened is that you have pulled the crowd for NS, on the backing of a super movie BF. As you tell me now, NS was all about freedom but what about the responsibilty that comes with that freedom? what about the responsibilty towards the viewers? I am sounding a bit harsh but I really felt let down by you. I know you will bounce back, eagerly waiting for that.

triplesix on November 15th, 2007 11:52 pm

kashyap….tht was really nice of u to reply…

articulating my views isn’t the problem…i have been expressin through my blog,though not really expressing it candidly…it’s somethin more than tht n i dn’t know wat…i havn’t been able to figure it out…just clueless!

anyhow,there’s also a slight misunderstanding,which actually made me laugh…i’m not a guy….

thnk u again!

AZAD on November 15th, 2007 11:54 pm

Looking forward to your next movie. In fact the only Animation that I have loved till date is Grave of the fireflies, and to some extent the animated portions of KILL BILL. rest all are cartoons for me. Hope your animated movie, Hanuman Returns falls into the animation category

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:55 pm

666 sorry for being so presumptious..

Anurag Kashyap on November 15th, 2007 11:57 pm

Azad checkout persepolis, princess, my neighbour totoros, tokyo godfathers, and manymore from europe and japan..

triplesix on November 16th, 2007 12:01 am

@novadj…

i felt really dorry after readin ur opinion which opposed to mine…yes,i agree,to an extent,tht money is essential….but i didn’t mean it in tht fashion tht money isn’t everythin…

it’s just loneliness….i’m not sayin tht i’m some rich girl havin a great time…my dad really worked hard for it…n i’m just secured bcos of it…i thank god for tht….but what do i do with it….

it’s just BLANK…like fill in the blanks…i dn’t know what to fill in those…with moeny,relationship or whatever….my life is just like tht…too many options, a lot left out….and those big blanks….i’m not regrettin or feeling sorry for myself…but i only wish i could feel somethin…n tht’s exactly what is absent now….

i wish u good luck with ur profession n life…take care

vinod on November 16th, 2007 12:04 am

Hi Anurag,

I liked the ending. I got it the first time I watched the movie. Because before I watched the movie , I read articles on pfc that the movie is not really about smoking :-) that helped me look beyond….

I can think of a few comments. Ignore it as trash if u find it invalid :-)

smoking is so common that it is easy for people to star thinking that the movie is about quitting smoking. And when the viewer gets blocked in that mind set, there was always the risk that people might just consider it as a thriller.And then the end comes as a complete surprise and the user would feel disconnected to the story. Maybe you could have given clues in the first half (go back and forth in the story like eternal sunshine of spotless mind) to let the user know that this is not really about smoking. You had that initial scene set in siberia. But I dont think it conveyed what it still gave a feel that the movie is like a thriller

The whole baba bangali setting had been more surreal like that in devils advocate.

Instead of setting it in dharavi it could have been more fantastic setting. Baba bangali is evil and is well aware of his power. But he could also have been shown as very charismatic. why are the people around baba sad and grumpy? They have given in to baba and they should be indulged in what baba throws at them. They should be sedated with the indulgence. Not feeling sad or happy…

Abbas can do anything to get his fingers back. Almost anything. He sends his friend to baba to get the fingers back. But you have to show that even after getting his finger back, abbas does not get back his freedom of expression. He just cant do it anymore because there is no longer any soul/true self that would express anything.What comes out of his pen is trash. Eventually he goes back to baba bangali…

I think the last 20 minutes were brilliant. awesome work….

triplesix on November 16th, 2007 12:11 am

ok,kashyap..tht was quick,n i know u r online…lol…

plez dn’t apologise,i literally felt embarassed…lol

i really look up to u…to me u r inspiring….n i wish to respect u in tht manner…

i wish i could get a chance to work with u…but tht’s a long mile to walk on…take care

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 12:16 am

KJ you are spot on..

and yes i do tend to live in extremes..

Amit i overestimated my audience, or may be you can say i was blinded by my own vanity..

The father in Tibet fulfills his responsibility towards his son by making him selfdependent..i expected the audience to be that.. i was wrong..

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 12:18 am

666 what do you do.. or where do you work, what you aspire to be

K J on November 16th, 2007 12:31 am

Hey Anurag!

Contrary to your own belief, some of us did get much of what you were trying to say in the movie. But I was really disappointed that instead of sharing our interpretations of no smoking everyone who did not understand it labeled it abstract. For my part, i would rather break my balls deciphering an interesting puzzle and not getting it in the end than live in ignorance bcoz of the thought process that goes with it, once u’ve gained that, it permanently adds dimensions to ur to thought.

I want every cinematic experience of mine to be unique, no matter how experimental. NS provided me that. You don’t realize that for ppl like me who have been breaking their heads over seeing the same movies rehashed, recut, remixed every friday losing interest in cinema, films like NS rekindle the faith that not every piece of work is done keeping the market in mind but remains what it needs to remain, pure art, pure cinema.

Sure you lost money, but you gave ppl an experience to remember forever.

You do live in extremes. First you tried to pass off NS as commercial cinema hoping ppl would get it(Entirely your fault), now you say nobody got it.

Give your viewers a chance.

I did post a very hard worked interpretation but it got lost among the myriad of opinions of others on your last post.

American comic book artist once said in relation to his passion for collecting obscure jazz records that everyone listens to the usual herbie hancock stuff you’ll get in every nook and corner of the city, but u look in places where others have shunned, you find real gems that others see as stone and it really whets your appetite because finally you possess that only u understand, something which makes you feel like yourself, you want to say ‘I am’.

so many great artists were eluded by fame, they never gave up. joseph conrad, f. scott fitzgerald, velvet underground. your work will speak for urself somewhere down the timeline.

The way you have taken to the failure of your movie makes me wish you watch NS again and see the last 20 min. of it again. See how K gives up. Then look in the mirror. See how K’s story has become your story, even more so now…..

Meanwhile here’s what i got from the movie, please correct me if i interpreted it the wrong way.

On second thoughts, maybe don’t. maybe i got more out of it than you intended to. for me, you’ve already reached your creative peak. so thanks for giving me NS before selling out to save ur marriage to the film industry……

K J on November 16th, 2007 12:33 am

sorry for posting again i lost electricity in b/w i thought i did not get posted….

K J on November 16th, 2007 12:33 am

This is how i interpreted it…….

The opening scene sets the tone of the movie by quoting an existential quote of Sinatra, thereby making us aware that much of what happens might be happening in K

one on November 16th, 2007 12:34 am

anurag, with all due respect, any comment on comment no. 68 and 69.

i think they have few valid points. infact they are some points which i feel too. give it a thought.

sumit on November 16th, 2007 12:34 am

it hurts to be loved and not respected.

but what u said was a sordid fact.

I am trying

Gajendra S Shrotriya on November 16th, 2007 12:38 am

Hi Anurag… I am a engineer, MBA and a businessman and left the comforts of my job 14 years back and started business in Jaipur with my friends. We have made some money since then. The interest in making films was there always but for last one year, I have started pursuing it seriously. Once I started doing it, I now feel this is something I can do 24×7. I learn by making films and PFCone has given me a great opportunity to show case myself. I have already submitted 6 films and would submit more if time extends because nothing now excites me more than making films.

Coming to the POV of a film maker, I see your view but cannot agree with it in whole. I strongly believe that every person on this earth knows his weeknesses or inner devil. But if he chooses to ignore it or doesn’t want to see it, then some one else trying to strip him would not make much difference. So why not show the hope that one could change. Why try to put some one’s kachra in his drawing room instead of believing that one day he would dispose it properly. At least that would encourage few ot hers to follow the suit. My POV is that cinema must be realistic but to the extent of bringing about some positive change. Not emphasizing the negativity.

I was a fervent tobacco chewer for 14 years, seven years back. Rajnigandha double zero you know. Even today, when I sometimes visit a panwala, the smell of the tobacco pan just blows my mind. But I have learnt to supress my urge now. Its difficult but not impossible.

And finally just out of curiosity; Whether you still smoke?

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 12:52 am

KJ i don’t know what to say.. but my respects and regards and thanks..:)

Travis Bickle on November 16th, 2007 12:52 am

Hey Anurag, have you seen the new David Lynch movie Inland Empire… what do you think about it?

K J on November 16th, 2007 12:53 am

yo! metropolis has some of the most awesome animation I’ve ever seen. although i think akira still remains the most spectacular one even after 20 yrs!

anurag, do let us know the film making process that went into making hanuman returns in one of ur future posts. what softwares u used, and the whole creative aspect of it in one of ur future posts. it will also help in taking further the quality of the next pfc one film festival by enabling ppl to break free of money, equipment and dimensional constraints……

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 12:53 am

Gajendra i do smoke..

sumit u r doing your bit in the theatre..

a little more will go a lot more

thilak on November 16th, 2007 12:54 am

Anurag,

Is there a Miyazaki homage somewhere! I’m all eager..

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 12:55 am

Travis just got the film and haven’t seen it yet

KJ will do so soon..

Nikhil Singh on November 16th, 2007 1:19 am

Please bear me with this small comment

in a philosophy class I saw a masterpiece that was just a bucketful of color splashed on a canvas, i asked my prof “sir even i can do it, so y is this a masterpice” the reply was “the artist has already proved to the world that he can paint as aesthetically beautiful painting as any one else has but now he has painted this”: so now the aam junta asks “what the heck he could have painted most beautiful paintings (hardcore masala) but chooses to paint this , what does he want to say ???

So repected kashyap sir we (PFC ki aam junta)see your film and ask y has he painted this when he could have painted XYZ but to others outside, you have to prove that u can paint the most beautiful bullshit we can think of (sorry for fundeybaazi…but loved ur blog and was compelled to comment)

Indraneel on November 16th, 2007 1:33 am

Anurag..man..we live and die by our creations. Creators have egos. Egos are good. Egos spell that he is capable. “I” is important to all human beings. A collection of “I” is “we”. The society..samaj..world. If the “I” does not do enough, his place in the world is lost. Forever. Also, the “I” has to have his roti, kapda and makaan..so, he does a few things that are necessary..not good or bad…but necessary.

We all do it..you do it too..But you create too. Your creations have beholders. They wonder, reflect and then get angry (in NS case)..cool, that is what you wanted them to do, serving up their curiousity for your future offerings..very Michelangelo..

I do that all day..my directors are unhappy with me..my colleagues too..but my customers find the solutions for me..then all realise..and its cool!!

So, “K” then has not lost his soul..has he??!!

K J on November 16th, 2007 1:36 am

what i loved most about the movie is that the form follows the function. K is a man not easily understood by anyone around him. so it makes sense to make a movie like this. i guess anurag is right in saying it would not have compelled us to think and discuss so much had the movie been easily accessible. this was one of the biggest grouses i had against the fountainhead. the book’s construction does not follow the function(the idea) it set out to convey. i felt cheated. this is the major reason why i loved this movie…

kartik krishnan on November 16th, 2007 1:37 am

thanks anurag for resurfacing ….

all the best ….

Waiting for Hanuman and DevD

Raghu on November 16th, 2007 1:39 am

TO DO IS TO BE

TO BE IS TO DO

DO BE DO BE DO

Wow!! I can’t sleep now….no more dreams..only

DO BE DO BE DO

Dileep Kumar on November 16th, 2007 1:42 am

@Anurag Kashyap

I am a normal audience and watch movies every Friday. I was dying to see No Smoking

rony d'costa on November 16th, 2007 1:48 am

Anurag a friend of mine has read quitter inc and she says that it is the same story.is there any credit to quitters inc in the film?. i dont remember seeing it.for me no smoking as different a film to quitter’s inc as some poeple compare ikiru to anand.

poetess on November 16th, 2007 2:09 am

You’re right Kashyap,

we do not listen.

there is too much of noise

screaming at us

I escape this and have

started escaping even the meaning that comes with it

you confront

and you are too honest

your honesty troubles

NS lingers and worries at my understanding of it

on the fifth day after seeing it two scenes fell in place all of a sudden. The rest still eluded. Now that you mention here on this blog few things make further sense and many things still elude. NS is not over. It might never be…

2. the soul loosing its body.. is a mind- blowing concept.

3. lastly, because of you and your brutal honesty many are learning not to stop. i, for one. you have awakened something. the only detriment is to be free from you (as a role model)

suchita b on November 16th, 2007 2:18 am

And I wonder if this is how legends are made… don’t know have to wait and watch.

The Big S on November 16th, 2007 2:28 am

Dear Anurag,

I was quite angry when i saw NS, i believed it was as self indulgent as it could get. However, i believe that every film should be a story told by the maker with total conviction in himself and his script by staying true to himself, i hence commend you on having the ‘testicles’ to do so.

Being an avid Marketer i cannot help wondering, what if you had not taken commercial stars in NS and what if you had a limited release like a late night show only at the multiplexes; maybe you would have had a chance to hit the niche audiences better and probably generate better WOM thus leading to the movie actually being appreciated by a larger crowd.

Do comment on this.

S

Shekhar Shimpi on November 16th, 2007 3:13 am

I enjoy watching “No Smoking”,

aisa Type ka aur film hona mangata,.

(3 baar dekha allready):)

Phoenixnu on November 16th, 2007 3:40 am

was wondering if its no blogging after no smoking. thank god its not. gt my blood check up done recnly,report said red blood cells,white blodd cells n pfc cells. yes now its impossible.

so,k has lost if finally ? then what was the point ? so dummies guide to no smoking is still rolling ? so if the intention was to discuss n dissect, why simplify it now ? so if bipasha number was con, the bigger con job was in having john abraham(the actor with only 2 expressions on his face..smile with dimples, frown with six lines on his forehead)to make it more commercial or maybe to con the producer or may be filmmaking is con job?

yes,those rebel friends (read rock music,long hairs,charas..all togther or one of it)who hate bollywood loved it n think cz of pfc m somehow part of ns. they come n tell me wow, i love that dude,man. i say ya.

but i hate “i” when it comes to film n cinema. i is just in bewteen c and n or between f and l. why should it become bigger? why should it stand out in cInema or fIlm ? it looks odd, bizarre. i love “i” otherwise. in shool when virendra saxena tells manoj bajapyee…duniya tumhare tarike se nahi chaltiiiiiii. everytime i c it, i feel like turning around n slap that guy n tell him…duniya mere tarike se hi chalegi ya nahi chalegi. personaly hav alwys lived like that so far. dad said its ur life. do what u want. u enjoy it,u regret it…u gt nobdy to blame except u. i told them dont come for any parents teachers meetings. i will handle everything. n hav been doing so since i remember. but hav also learnt that when it involves u,we n all,then there is no “i”. And film is all about “i” but for “u”. otherwise like om prakash makhija pray that in next birth u r born with ambani, roshan or johar surname.

Shreyas G on November 16th, 2007 4:04 am

hey anurag, i had left a post abt how much i luvd watching NS in ur earlier blog entry

i too aspire to b a filmmaker, m 18 nd doin BMM(bachelor if mass media)…but i don kno where to start frm

i kno i hav 1 story in me(m dyin to tell it!)…which is as close to me as NS is to u

i desperately want to tell tht story for self-indulgent purposes and i don’t mind doin any amount of commercial bullshit(i secretly enjoy conceptualising commercially viable stuff too)

a word of advice wud do me a world of good…i’m currently directionless

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 4:35 am

phoenixnu uncle Raakh hone ke baad bhi baar baar uth khade hote ho ya yunhi phoenix ho.. bhaiya i se hi to sab shuru hota hai.. i nahi hoga to we kaise hoga.. NS se mujhe zyaada mere type log mile hain.. thoda intezaar karo duniya bhi badlenge..

NS itni bhi simplify nahi kee hai.. bahas to chalti rahegi, uska kaam hai chalna.. ek wahi to cheez hai jo chal rahi hai apni speed se.. baaki to sab bhaag rahe hain ya thame huey hain..

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 4:46 am

S without the commercial stars it wouldn’t have been made..

and to release like that you need a super strong distributor.

in this country the whole thing has sadly become about the first three days

ronny quitter’s inc was just a departure point and it has no credit in the film..

Dileep your questions are too many and the answer to them is probably baba bengali had supernatural powers, he was omnipresent.. all those things were used to symbolise the constant surveillance that we live under..or you can simply call it paranoia.. you see most what you fear most..

as to why k signs after put in that magic box, i don’t know..maybe something so terrible happens down there that he is scared.. may be the first time he goes down , he goes into a dream and the second time he wakes up is actuall when he wakes up.. maybe when he goes down he sees a crystal ball in which he seees his future mauled by baba bengali or he sees his wife is actually abbas’s wife and he himself doesn’t exist..i don’t know

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 4:48 am

shreyas kurukshetra mein kood jaao.. chakravyooh mein khudbakhud phans jaaoge

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 4:53 am

poetess do not admire someone so much that you won’t be able to take it when they make their human mistake.. you have to be accomodating enough to allow your rolemodel his fall from grace.. trust me the one rolemodel that definitely works is the vision of “the future you”.. let that future you define your journey.. and when you become that..try to jump off it..

gatsby on November 16th, 2007 5:01 am

Anurag, why explain? Why not allow your inferences, your private anger, your personal angst that was poured into the script and the writing remain cloaked in the film.Those that get it, understand it can feel a sense of unmitigated gle at having got the joke, maybe different ones in each instance, understood the idioms. But this explanation makes it all so redundant. Like Beckett stepping on stage to explain the real meaning of ‘Waiting for Godot’. What works there is the same thing… Everyone takes something very personal and individual away… I wish you hadn’t launched into ‘look, did you get how deep I was being?’. Defeats the purpose of depth. And I’m one of those guys who really loved NS, warts and all.

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 5:09 am

gatsby you have a valid argument here.. but for me NS is gone and i need to make more films and in this country after being jinxed for eight years i don’t want to lose myself to obscurity caused by incomprehensibility..

Phoenixnu on November 16th, 2007 5:28 am

hum to philhaal bus wannabe phoenix hain, shayad raakh me mitne ke baad pata chalega. umid,hope aur pray karta hoon ki aap zarur is raakh se phir se uthein. bina zyada cheezon ko analyse kar,bina zyada sochein,bina khalid aur taran ko seriously liye. besabri se intezaar rahega. pehle bhi kaha tha,abhi bhi kah raha hoon,ns ke liye apni dictionary me se ek shabd zaroor chun ka rakha hoon..cult. bus dar hai ki ye “i” ko aur ego massage na de. behad kahatrnak sabit ho sakta hai. aur kuch bhi ho bus woh nahi chahunga. waise bhi gine chune hi hain jinse umeed liye bhaithe hain.

Travis Bickle on November 16th, 2007 5:31 am

Hey Anurag,

Tell me for my peace of mind and people like me…

How do you lose freedom by losing two fingers… If that’s just what it takes to lose freedom , I’ve lost mine by being born …. I want to get it..tell us..

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 5:41 am

travis losing fingers was just a metaphor.. if you take everything literally then nothing has meaning.. it’s all meaningless.. even you asking, me answering and all that surrounds the angst of our existence..

Travis Bickle on November 16th, 2007 5:48 am

But isn’t freedom a state of mind… The rest that happens around me the absurdity of existence..

Meaning is truth … and I want to know your truth..as an artist

Travis Bickle on November 16th, 2007 5:52 am

Everything is meaningless by itself unless we give it meaning … Anyway i think you should make a movie around a single meaning .. like the meaning of the life of Travis Bickel…

Neeraj on November 16th, 2007 5:59 am

Anurag sir …. i can see that you have truly moved past No Smokingg… no comments on ur Classic M blog after a while… Well not sure if u might have read this…. but this is wht i wrote abt No Smoking… No point in going and talking abt tht issue again and again… but if possible …have a read.. !

Picture this - for eg : David Lynch

Neeraj on November 16th, 2007 6:02 am

I wanted to be a part of Dev D..thru PFC 1 min movie… too bad…for me..as my film…got stuck due to bad internet connnections !! but these things happen i guess… !! Soo hope to meet you sometime in the future..!!! :) All the best sir…. for ur DEV D…!

Neeraj on November 16th, 2007 6:07 am

The fact tht we derived our own interpretation from No Smoking…was a great thing !!…. after a point ..we do tend to realise…tht its metaphor for many thing… !! Soul for our identity in this world , Fingers for the things ur feel , Ears for the arrogance we have and which makes us deaf….and well….the pain of our loved ones,…wen we go on a dark path !!….

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 6:08 am

travis i lose my freedom if i am not allowed to express.. my mind is free.. but to translat that i need a medium.. to a writer it is writing, which is why abbas tyrewala loses his fingers and then K

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 6:11 am

neeraj the deadline to PFCone has extended..have you tried sending it again

Noopur Bora on November 16th, 2007 6:13 am

Anurag bhai,

you are the man we all aspiring film makers look upto… your apologies were for the people who you think you fooled to watch the movie by the bips song. such people must have nothing to do with what you write. but people like me are affected by what u write. we dont need ur apologies. though my friends slept through NS, i loved it. i was convinced them to watch it again and then they loved it. i know thats how its going to be for you. you wont be just a survivor for the sake of it, u will have a mark of ur own. every hanuman return will have a NS.

Travis Bickle on November 16th, 2007 6:21 am

So Anurag, you want the freedom to express your freedomlessness to express your freedom … am i right :-?

AmitP on November 16th, 2007 6:27 am

Glad to hear that post NS u still have ur fingers un-chopped (though u can bargain on hearing device).

Many of my frnds didn’t even notice those smoky (or blurry) screen when u tried to show the world visualized by ‘atma’ .. e.g the very first scene when K went to that “kolkata carpet centre” or whatever it was .. there screen get smoky for few seconds. Little more effects cud have done for many guys.

I have seen few movies of Lynch, Arnofosky (not Kaufman though) .. and as people pointing these guys as the reference for NS .. i was bit afraid initially for getting alienated .. but unlikely i found NS very “Indian” … though i may not get every references u have put there in ur movie.

But to the core NS is very Indian .. and for that i take bit of pride.

P(L)AYBACK on November 16th, 2007 6:28 am

Anurag,… Its sad but I suspect u are evolving into a self centered spoilt brat resting on the spoils of fragile foundations !

Pls dont do this if u can ! IF u cant ,….just go ahead and lose ur fingers ! We will forget u !

Amen

morph on November 16th, 2007 6:30 am

Anurag,

We saw we heard but we were unmoved . We understood what you were trying to convey , we really did . Gulzar saab’s lyrics had a quality which your film lacked . they were more sucessful in conveying the gist and sprit of your film than your film itself .

Iam glad that you have decided to look beyond ‘No smoking’. Looking forward to your next movie . All the best for the future.

aditi on November 16th, 2007 6:45 am

Glad to hear that next time you’ll keep audience in mind. I don’t mind seeing a mirror, but the image should not be frosty, blurred and shapeless. Eagerly awaiting your next…..All the Bestest

george on November 16th, 2007 6:57 am

“A big drop of sperm was falling from the sky

Mother (earth ) quaked for it and conceived it

and I bloomed out

That is how the idea was born..”

idhu allava kavidhay… pramadham pramadham!!!

tanglish (this is know poem… wonderful wonderful)

deepa on November 16th, 2007 7:13 am

Anurag,

Having seen the same industry you’re now an inadvertent part of, from close quarters, all I’d say is, just do what you have to and voice your opinions if you have to. But I can promise you that no one here is going to take a non-conformist seriously, because it’s too scary for them to acknowledge a different point-of-view. You need a remarkable sense of security to deal with different perspectives, and not many in Bollywood have it.

I haven’t watched No Smoking yet, purely because of work pressure. But have been reading the posts on this site, and all the flak that’s been flying around in the media.

My question to you is not about No Smoking, but about Guru. Why did you write that film at all?

Regards,

Deepa

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 7:28 am

deepa i wrote the first two drafts,, final version was not mine..

i wrote it because i loved the story of that man’s journey.. alas my version was not agreed upon..

Dhirendra Tiwari on November 16th, 2007 7:41 am

Alright…

this may be a spoiler..like i said may be

Anurag,

I wanted to duscuss this with you but no other medium than this open web platform so here it is

my interpretation - K gets cured as his stubborn, egoist subconscious is captured by baba…

From the point K is thrown inside a hole for refusing to accept treatment(before he signs the contract) is his subconcious that we see on the screen until the end when he talks to himself…

Confusion?

2 fingers getting chopped off - was that the real punishment?

why was there a mat on the top of his car??

Your movie was like The shining, I could get some but not others. Fortunately I can discuss it with you whereas stanley kubrick was long gone before I watched his movie..

Abhra J Mukherjee on November 16th, 2007 7:57 am

anurag

welcome back. uve made a movie and the ppl who have not liked it (including me) can go fuck themselves. Did u put a gun on my head or kidnap my wife and demanded an audience as ransom? dude dont worry abt it. uve writen and directed stuff that is recorded in golden words of indian film history. u can make a dozen NS but no one can take away ur satya, ur BF. so come back and hit it hard and u know how ….

Abhra

qwerty on November 16th, 2007 8:09 am

Anurag, Ketan Mehta made a Fellini-esque romp through the underbelly of Bombay…’Oh Darling Yeh Hai India’…also was deemed incomprehensible by people. That film was probably way ahead of it’s time.

In any case, referring to the ‘Fountainhead’ comparison, this blog has given you what Roark could never have…. hundreds of supporters…!

8 years of ‘jinxes’ maybe, but hey, everybody loves a martyr eh?

May the force be with you.

Bom Bom !

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 8:15 am

Dhirendra..the carpet is what he gets billed for each time he issues a cheque..Kalkatta karpets is the front of what baba does underneath in his labyrinth.. ‘things we don’t want to deal with we sweep them under the carpet”,,as for rest of your interpretation that’s your own and i am not going to argue with that.. am glad atleast you took something

Abhra thanks

qwerty with 300 someone won a war and they made a film on it.. well i love PFC

sanjay malhotra on November 16th, 2007 8:28 am

Anurag,

Next time give us a flick,where we don’t have to disscuss it, in order to understand it. Film is an audio visual medium with so many characters,music and many more things in It so it should speak by itself.

Regards!

Sanjay

V on November 16th, 2007 8:32 am

Anuraag Bhai -

very well, now that you’ve completed the cycle for NS by providing an explanation,or shd I say, a justification. Ab ek baat pate ki - genius to aap ho hi is mein kisi ko koi doubt nahi hai, and at least cos of NS you’ve decided to make your ingenuity more accessible; but why do you have this attempt to always prove that you are ‘different’ ? Yes you are, and so is your cinema, your writing, your thoughts and opinions, but sir, different hone ke chakkar mein indifferent mat ho jaana. Turn the commercial format on its head, change the way our stories are told,plot the points as u want, do something entirely novel, but please - remain deferent even when you are trying to be different. Not just for your producers and the audience at large, but for our cinema in particular and those of us who have extreme faith on your abilities. A lot of us here will like to be into filmmaking, but can’t due to ghar and family chalana hai.. don’t have the guts to leave the security or in my case love my wife too much to make her insecure by insane decisions.. and for a small lot out of this group, we depend on you and your kind of cinema. Make us proud man. Make it different if you want, but make it work. You know how. You’ve showed us your signature, now fill the page with your name. All the best !

Dhirendra Tiwari on November 16th, 2007 8:33 am

btw, I loved the ripple effect(like, throwing a stone in the pond effect) you had in some of the scenes. Very original technical act. that kind of gave a feeling that these scenes are different from rest…

qwerty on November 16th, 2007 8:36 am

I have this fantastic script about overlapping realities induced by an experimental test drug, on a group of unconnected people in their twentiesmost of it takes place in an enclosed area, a totally mind altering experience. It’s set in France, for a French network…..at the end of it, you dont know which is which…quite intriguing, and a page turner….wonder if that would work in a Bombay milieu, sort of like ‘12 Monkeys’ meets ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ - ( u must see those if you havent already)

Dazed&Confused on November 16th, 2007 8:37 am

Anurag can you share the script of NS on PFC?

Devils Advocate on November 16th, 2007 9:11 am

:d/ I loved Jacobs ladder and 12 monkeys.. precisely because I was left scratching my head for a day or so.. It made me think and rethink untill I got it. But I ultimately question the point of “getting it” or is it the act of participating intellectually and making your own accesments that is more important and rewarding. But then again, one shouldn’t be pondering major plot lapses, but rather be undercovering the hermeneutics behind the underlining meaning.

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 9:16 am

i love them too..

Devils Advocate on November 16th, 2007 9:35 am

Hey Anurag, when you setting forth with Dev D? and whats the premise for it? I have a question regarding screenwriting in India? do you guys start with English and then get dialouges written in hindi or does the standard format consist of purely hindi. I really think if you make a partial script available from any of your past movies, It would be a great learning curve. Btw have you seen no country for old men yet?

Devils Advocate on November 16th, 2007 9:48 am

never mind i just started reading your ” trying to make my film in the big bad bollywood” post.. I will save you the time. Please thank Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzhar sahbib from my side for that great soundtrack… i have been listening to it non stop ever since I first heard it. Phoonk de is my favourite track along with ash tray.

Anurag Kashyap on November 16th, 2007 9:49 am

my script should be up soon..

Kamlesh Singhvee on November 16th, 2007 10:03 am

@qwerty

and a lil bit of “A Clockwork Orange”

@ AK

Don’t you think with a film like “Hanuman Returns”,

you might just target the wrong audience for your next baby, another backlash.

instead I’d like to see your next baby proclaim ‘from the makers of No Smoking..’

chavannichap on November 16th, 2007 10:20 am

anurag,

aap inhe padhen…kuchh log samajh rahe hain aap ko…maloom nahi aap unhe samajh rahe hain ya nahi?

http://chavannichap.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_30.html

http://chavannichap.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_6921.html

Holden Caulfield on November 16th, 2007 10:22 am

Anurag,

Like many others I have been following all the posts written for NS. Thought I will drop a line too but then thought what the hell, I enjoyed it why do I need security in numbers. I saw a pirated print of NS as that is the only way I can see in Connecticut. Even on such a bad print I could understand it was full of style and lots of gripping moments. First reaction I had was it is like the movie Big Fish then I thought may be not it was more like Eternal Sunshine of spotless mind, but I think it was better than any of them. Anurag I did see the point of Baba enjoying his power over underprivileged. I could not hear the lyrics from the song very clearly, but loved the music. I thought it was more of an experience rather than a movie. I loved lots of moments especially when K forces Abbas to smoke a cigg just to prove that whatever he does is right. And then there was this other ass licking guy next to him who would have licked Abbas ass if K was the one who would have walked out first

Dhirendra Tiwari on November 16th, 2007 10:26 am

@Kamlesh

A Clockwork Orange ?? nothing similar with that. It’s a movie that becomes boring after 30 mins.

Holden Caulfield on November 16th, 2007 10:28 am

One more thing on your poem you wrote when you were doped