No Smoking,Mukesh Mills,Colaba,Dec28′06
“This film has three colors….black …white and shit”……this is what Anurag replied to an actor who was playing a nurse who said the film has black and white…2 colors. I was just eavesdropping shamelessly and have no idea in what context it was but that was just what it was at the No-Smoking shoot at Mukesh Mills, Colaba. Intriguing, wacky, puzzling….and everything else we would like to associate with the magic of cinema and Anurag Kashyap.
As soon as I entered I read the by now famous sign. “No-Smoking in set, Rs.500 fine”. I did not have that kind of money with me and had not got my stock as well. But I will never regret the decision, I borrowed one for he king himself. That was one holy drag I had from Anurag. Thanks…..it never felt so good before.
Back to business. Today was the all important shoot at the “Prayogshala” the rehab center. This place they call the underworld…and what a place it is. I was armed with a camera but Anurag requested not to. He wanted to keep this place under wraps till the audience sees it on the big screen. I understood I was no journo on a big scoop. This was PFC and we respect his passion.
Apart for the script and Anurag and John and Paresh Rawal and others associated with NS…the art direction is something and more importantly the Prayogshala will be a thing to look out for. Some place it was…..haunting and eerie at first and hilarious after a quick panning of the eyes. You will know it when you see it. The man responsible “WASIQ”.
He has been associated with Anurag since the Last Train to Mahakali days. From there to Paanch, to Black Friday…..he has also done the art for Hari Bari, Taxi No.9211, Mathrubhumi, Jajantaram Mamantaram….etc..etc…..but this is something that will take him to greater heights. Mr.Bhansali take a cue……all the Mahals and thousand lights cannot match the Prayogshala this guy has made.
Wasiq told me that it’s not just this Prayogshala even John’s normal world has a touch of coldness in it. Very minimalist and no warmth. And that’s why he loves to work with Anurag. Most of the people do not understand what he is saying but all these years have tuned them to a wave length and the result was there to see. Every prop, every apparatus, every wall, window, glass, THE BOOK [this is top notch!!!!], Photos on the wall[Masterpieces!!!!!!].
I used the word surreal to him and he very clearly pointed out that this has a surreal element and not surreal. There is a difference. You have not seen something like this but it’s real enough to believe that there could be something like this to spook the daylights out of you. Hats off Mr.Wasiq.
I just wandered along the sets and I had decided that I will not asks anyone “what was your experience…..”. As I was roaming aimlessly I spotted John. I asked him if I could snap him. He politely told me he would prefer if I don’t. I kept the shutter in. We started chatting and he was the only guy who asked me my full name when I said my name is Vasan….form then he addressed me as Srinivasan. From here the No-Smoking effect started. From Kabul Express and Babul somehow and somewhere the topic shifted to Sharad Pawar !!!!!!!. In minutes I was seated in the middle of a conversation between John, Anurag and Mr.Kumar Mangat. Don’t ask me why, there are more such instances. I could not just keep looking like a spectator in a tennis match and told John about something I read in the papers. “What the farmers could not do the Australians did to Sharad Pawar” [ref: the Australian team pushed Sharad Pawar off the Dias during a presentation ceremony. ]…and John was in splits.
Enter Mr.Rawal and I froze. There was a scene being shot with John, Paresh Rawal and Ayesha. Each time Mr.Rawal gave a shot Anurag who was monitoring the shot would literally applaud and exclaim like a 5 year old. “Amazing, brilliant…..mind-blowing” and that smile in his face. How does he manage that ……after the No-Smoking, 8 years in the making and frustrations galore……this guy smiles like a child…something angle like……untouched….I still cannot get over it.
I was told Paresh Rawal keeps to himself and its better not to get close to him but I did, I sat near him, he smiled I reciprocated. John was there too. I very meekly asked him “Sir, we are all eager to know you role in NS….”…with a deadpan expression he gave it back “even I am eager to know what I am doing in this film…..” and from then on it was a treat.
Be his suggestion of how he would like to do a scene or the comment on what kind of a sex life his character in the film would have. This was the real Paresh Rawal…..mind blasting…Baburao is a pale shadow.
During this conversation I mentioned to Anurag that Sudhirji might be joining PFC and he was elated. ”The true cool dude of Indian cinema….” That’s how he calls him. Then like the sher/couplet of Ghalib itself…..there was a serious interpretation of Sudhirji’s next film title and why the name “Bhaut nikle arman mere” was changed to “Khoya Khoya Chand….” And before I could barely regain my composure of Anurag’s interpretation of the Ghalib’s couplet, John sang a line from Dada Kondke’s film…. ”Andheri Raat me diya tere haat me…..”.No, this was not all abrupt as it seems….it had to do with Anurag’s version of Bhaut Nikle arman mere…..but what happened next was a killer…..Anurag carried on the mukhda John sang and went into an impromptu jig…which went like “apne pipe ki paani ko dhere dhere chod….”[not the exact words..] Gosh! that was one hell of a performance.
[This little gem of Anurag’s interpretation of Bhaut nikle, I want to keep it to myself]
Also visiting the sets were Sameer Sharma [writer of “Khoya Khoya Chand”] and Vikram [writer of the forthcoming Vivek Agnihotri Film “Goal” and the one to direct a film with John and Vidya Balan]. Watch out for these two in the coming months.
It was great to see John taking a conscious effort to take the other tangent in cinema. This stud is really down to earth and really committed. In spite of the all the fans dropping in and posing for pics….when in front of the camera he is all focused. Like a baby he runs after every shot to check his performance and is always ready to give that extra shot.
Now for some awesome casting you may not know .One has been part of an International crew and the other has been a 5 time Gold Medalist in International wrestling.
Zaheer who must be all of 3 ft.8-9 inches starred in the Chronicles of Narnia. Wowowo…..watch out for him. Little devil.
John left and even Paresh Rawal. I though it was time. Paresh Rawal left not before he demanded he gets a list of the by now famous Anurag Kashyap DVD collection. Just when I thought it was all over the best was yet to come.
RANVEER.
Last few shots to be canned and I was destined to witness one of the scariest scenes ever filmed. Anurag was really pepped up that he had designed the entire thing. It was complicated and the easier option would have been CG [computer graphics]. Anurag stuck to the real.
It’s was lights camera and action and Ranveer left us spooked. There was a standing ovation for him and Anurag hugged him. Ranveer immediately started his acceptance speech and thanked his father, brother, mother….chahca….etc…etc….etc….
Back to the normal. Home. Can’t hardly wait to watch No Smoking hit the big screen.
PACK-UP
Tags: The No Smoking Diary
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
nice post vasan
kartik was just telling me about you yesterday, and to expect your post soon.. had no idea it would be today, so a real treat this one. thanks and welcome to PFC!
Well,what can one say… FUCKING AWESOME MAN!^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
Amazing…Amazing post Vasan….Kahan the aap itne din…Welcome to PFC brother…
Welcome to PFC Vasan
\:d/
a nice detailed first post, thanks.
Welcome Vasan….Nice post…
Wasan Bro …. im ‘insanely jealous’ of the good time u had on the sets ….
Next time if possible … get paresh to talk about himself .. his acting background … his influences … naseer, om, kamal hassan…
juicy post .. mazaa aa gaya
thanks people…..
hope to chat….abuse…kiss…spit…..fart…hug…love you all in he name of the holy brotherhood of cinema..
>>During this conversation I mentioned to Anurag that Sudhirji might be joining PFC and he was elated.
Man…I cant wait for Sudhir M to start blogging on PFC.
WHAT’S MR.PARESH RAWAL’S LOOK IN THE FILM? I BELIEVE HE’S PLAYING AN UNDERWORLD DON WITH A COMPLETELY NEW LOOK CONCEIVED BY ANURAG…TRUE?
..” chain smoker on d set of no smoking”:((:x:x
well done vasan bhai….looking forword for d next post….all the best
Kaalia, if m not wrong Nu once mentioned that he used to work with Sudhir Mishra. Lets ask NU to keep on reminding Sudhirji to come as early as possible.
whens NO SMOKING releasin ?
Paresh Rawal has a get up….but it’s not eye-popping or there to create a “hawaah” like the new Gabbar get up…But the way he has gone about it of whatever little I could see…man this guy is breathtaking and to be doing all this with such ease…
I don’t know about the film release but Anurag was mentioning about the music release in March. If I heard right and there is more than mouth-ear-nose-di*% watering stuff in the offing. Of what he shared I am queuing up to the nearest music store like a boy who has given his GRE and standing outside the US embassy for his visa this march.
Sure would like to asks Mr.Rawal more but this trip I preferred being a fly on the wall shamelessly eavesdropping.
Command Oh! Master OZ when can I go on mission No-Smoking next.
It’s time someone devoted a nice lovely article to the glorious Mukesh Mills and its place in Bollywood history (embellished with location shots and film snippets). Or perhaps, a documentary? :d
Vasan: what a debut! You’ve taken the No Smoking coverage to the next level!