NO SMOKING: An abstract masterpiece with limitless interpretations

DIRECTOR: Anurag Kashyap

STARRING: John Abraham, Ayesha Takia, Paresh Rawal, Ranvir Shorey.

REVIEW: Anurag Kashyap came under my immediate attention when he made this movie back in 2007. Panned by critics and rejected by the audience, 'No Smoking' failed to create a stir at the box-office, and was eventually forgotten by the audience and the critics alike. What I felt was that the critics responded to the movie way too early, and tagged it as 'nonsense' without giving a second thought of what the director wanted to convey through the movie. In India, the audience have been so accoustomed to cinematic spoon-feeding (read Yash Raj movies) that anything even slightly abstract or open-ended is hard to digest. What people here see in a movie are their favorite stars, melodious songs, and some over-the-top action sequences. Anything out of this protocol spells nothing but failure for the movie and the people involved in its making.

Moving on to the plot, the movie covers the exploits of the protagonist, K (John Abraham), an arrogant and enormously rich man, who is ever-nagged by his wife Anjali (Ayesha Takia) becuase of his habit of always keeping a cigarette burning in his mouth, be it in day or night, bathroom or bedroom. Anjali becomes so ticked off of his cigarette-smoking that she decides to divorce him. Learning this, K, on the consultation of his friend Abbas (Ranvir Shorey), agrees to give up smoking by joining a rehab center called 'Prayogshala'. On going to Prayogshala, K meets a fiendish person called Baba Bengali (Paresh Rawal), who forces him not to smoke by warning that if he were to smoke, he would take some seriously heinous and horrendous steps, which would put his and his near ones' life in danger. The rest of the movie is how K deals with the situation. 

Watching the first half made me think that it was a fantastic thriller with a flair of originality. I couldn't think why it has gathered so many haters. However, the movie slipped into surrealism minutes after the second half started, thus explaining why it was hated by many. When the screening ended abruptly, I sat with a gaping mouth, wondering 'what the f***???' Where are the explanations to the oddities that took place in the movie? However, when I gave it a second thought, I just couldn't get the movie out of my mind. It made complete sense, the only thing is that you have to search for the explanations yourself. In the end, there is no official account of any of the happenings of the movie by any of the characters. Look deeper, and you know what the answers are. 

Then again, if you search for answers based on substancial logic, or want everything to be explained by scientific mediums, then I highly doubt that you will be successful. You have to have an open mind and understand the symbolic meanings of the characters and elements introduces in the film. That is the true essence of the film. It is open-ended and free for hundreds of interpretations and explanations, based on the type of viewers and their different understandings and opinions about different topics. If you ask me to tell the story scene by scene, exprssing the abstract logic behind it simultaneously, I hardly believe that it will match the explanaion put forward by the director himself! 

In a nutshell, the film has different things to offer for different viewers, making it an interactive experience. My expression of the movie treads somewhat into religious beliefs, and I hope my interpretation provides the space to understand what message Kashyap wants to deliver. However, posting my interpretation without giving away the movie is next to impossible, so I am not doing that.

As for technicalities, the cinematography is way too good for regular Bollywood stuff, and bears striking resemlance to that of the film 'Aamir'. The movie has a dark feel about it, but does not pass as a film-noir. Its a cut between noir and regular stuff. The music is awesome, and the songs, though only a few, are pitched in at all the right places. The background score by Vishal Bhardwaj elevates the dark and brooding feel of the movie, and contains many technical sounds. 

The screenplay is top-notch.

The cast has acted unusually well. I didn't expect John Abraham to portray the character of the angst-ridden K as perfectly as he has done. A word of praise also goes out for both Ayesha Takia and Paresh Rawal, who have performed exceptionally well in their characters.

Ending this review, I want to point out the one and only flaw in the reasoning of Kashyap's otherwise fertile mind, which is, how did he expect that such complex a movie would ever go down well with the orthodox Indian audience? Let alone Bollywood, it is puzzling and confusing even by Hollywood standards. Did he really believe that the average audience would get all that he wanted to convey?

RATING: A 4/5 for an amazing abstract plot, a meaningful underlying message, good acting, and likeable music.