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Warning: This is not a review. This is an extremely personal letter to K – the protagonist of No Smoking. No one forces you to read, leave alone comment!

Dear K,

Hey! I saw the film they made about you. It’s about your smoking habit, they think. I don’t think so. It didn’t have an email address to reach you so I am posting the letter here.

You know, when I was getting into the auto rickshaw to get to watch No Smoking, a madman followed me. I ignored him and he started to follow all the way into the rickshaw. The other side of the rickshaw was blocked as well. The driver was a bit stumped and took time to react, he thought that man was with me, but I panicked for I didn’t know him. The auto rickshaw man took charge and began hurling the choicest abuses at once. …

PFC was in attendence for the facilitation of the winners on of the poster contest for the Film No-Smoking. John was there to give away the cash prizes worth Rs. 25,000 each to the winners. Elvis where there in person. Zaheer and Manav were represented by their parents. Ms. Masooma Contractor was there on Zaheer’s behalf and Mr. and Mrs. Doshi were there for Manav. Me look really look lika a wannabe RGV with my stupid “muchi” and venting my views like a pro….cring even looking at them….kuch zyada hi footage kha liya…anyways without further ado…..Lets take you to the All Sports Bar at Andheri where it all happened.

Thanks to Vasan, KK, Manjeet & the entire PFC Mumbai Gang.

The video’s below are the same in two different formats. Enjoy!

AK …

Finally .. A nightmare of a process is over.. after three months in the editing room, we have it locked.. we missed the Cannes deadline .. we haven’t yet announced the poster contest winner.. we missed a lot else.. so much for telling everyone that it will be a hundred minute film.. I ended making a 160 minute film.. its so painful to cut out your favourite shots.. its so difficult to find objectivity.. I had to frequently get away from the film to find it..had to take week long, sometimes a fortnight sabbatical from it to fall out of love with my shots.. Finally had to ask Vishal to come in and be ruthless with my film.. who do I have to thank for it.. Mira Nair.. still remember what she said to me when I complemented her on her economy of shots , she said ,”oh we …

15TH Jan… 7.30 am… I spring up from my bed… I do that often…why…I haven’t been able to figure out… Satish wishes ‘good morning’…I respond…I am sharing the room with him…he orders tea for both of us…I look out of the window…it’s drizzling…wasn’t expecting that…I go back and cling to my bed…just for few minutes…just for few…was it just few minutes or…I hear Satish ‘uttho…cahi aa gayi…’ I turn…open my eyes…flabbergasted on what I see… fuck…There she is just pouring tea…standing couple of meters away from my bed…looking beautiful…‘good morning’ she goes…fuck fuck fuck…oh god…no god…I didn’t want her to see me like this…early morning…straight out of bed…all messed up…not minding my personal belongings… …guys don’t…early in the morning…no body wants to be seen like that…at least I don’t…she smiles and leaves…I am left wondering…did I respond to her good morning…I don’t remember…did I…I am not sure…I am definitely …

It’s 10th of January, amidst preparation for next day hectic shoot I am informed that I have to leave for TASHKENT (UZBEKISTAN formerly part of USSR) the very next day to overlook the preparation and line up the shoot there…WHAT???…Yeah right…tomorrow…8 PM flight to Delhi and to TASHKENT the very next day, replies our line producer Mr. Inderjeet Chadda, in a very matter of fact tone. I go ‘But I had no prior information about leaving this soon, I need time to prepare myself for the trip!’…. And please carry warm clothes (very warm) as it is snowing heavily there and the temperature there has dropped to –10, again very matter of fact…end of discussion…Period!
WARM CLOTHES???? A term that I haven’t heard since I left Delhi seven and half years back. In Bombay you don’t need warm clothes…Nope…not any time of the year…not for seven and a half years …

Here are two more videos from the final day of the No Smoking Shoot in Mumbai…ENJOY!

AK wraps up No Smoking in Mumbai

…in this video look out for Anurag with his sister Anubhuti, the PFCwallahs – Kartik, Vasan n Manjeet, the unique numberplate of the snazzy car – MCP – K1, Ak in his dark-comedic element, Ayesha Takia, John and Ak with the No Smoking team.

the youtube link: LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUQz6dK_xpM

Ak inspires a prank on the final day of the shoot

… and a unit member’s bike goes missing instantly…(of course he got it back safe..)

the youtube link: LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG3LkDFczX8

Only images..no words..well..just a few…

Video 1 – On the final day of the shoot at Kamalistan studios in Mumbai –

This one is a sample of a scene being rehearsed and shot

(more coming…)

Watch it here:

This is a film made by me using the the clips taken at the Kamalistan location of No-Smoking to enter the elit list of banned film makers in india…..Please do support my dreams. It has nothing to do with promoting No-Smoking but showcase the skills of my fellow PFCiets…….Kartik as the on-looker and Smriti as the shy girl and me as the smoker.

It has all the elements…….a great actor/director/writer/editor/cinematographer trying to showcase his skills…and he is being shunned away….as people want to see stars…. it has cuss words and promotes smoking….

Watch it and ban it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB5j1MFLDmw

Regards,

Vasan

It’s a wrap. The last day of the shooting of No Smoking in Bombay. The team has now flown to Russia (or a neighboring country) to shoot for a few days before returning to Bombay. There could be a fat chance that they may shoot again for a day or two in Bombay after their return.

But as of now… it was the last day of shoot that Smriti, Manjeet, Vasan and Kartik went to. Covering the shoot from their points of view. Smriti with her video cam, Kartik attached like a glue to Anurag, Vasan doing wonders with his still camera – turning it to capture video (and if he isn’t stopped he may turn out sci-fi effects from that camera)… mixing around with the crew and Manjeet doing his thing and capturing the sets with his camera.

But all good things come to an end… and by noon… it …

Butterfly Effect – Part -1

An Iyer boy born and brought up in Mumbai ……does odd jobs….decides to quit everything….eliminates all options and tries to join the film industry….

An Iyer boy born in Delhi….goes on to do more conventional things and becomes an engineer…..destiny brings him to Mumbai…he too nurses dreams of making it as a filmmaker someday.

A boy born in India …goes to the US….into…..software…but his passion is for cinema…takes on to blogging…with a vengeance….

Boy from Banaras comes to Bombay. It’s film reels instead of veins in his nervous system. …..there is Satya in him….and he is a hope for all the Yuva film makers

Cut To

The Iyer boy from Bombay was with the Iyer boy from Delhi, both in awe of the Boy from Banaras……courtesy this boy from the US.

The End

The final 2 days of the No-Smoking shoot in Bombay before the …

Vasan uses his master editing skills to make a small video. It’s what he saw on the sets of No Smoking. Using fast forward and a foot tapping background music… here’s the crew and actors of No Smoking caught on tape… oz Reveiw of Tape : FUN!!!

Manjeet has sent in these pictures of the No Smoking shoot that took place at Velocity. Vasan has given a detailed coverage of the Velocity shoot a few posts down below.

The No Smoking shoot is nearing completion and that’s got many PFC’s bloggers running to meet the fabulous team of No Smoking from Anurag, John, Joy to Rajkumar, Gautam (the ADs) to Rajeev Ravi and the technicians…

You can feel the excitement when you talk to bloggers in Bombay. It’s as if the charged up energy flows right through the cell phone waves from Bombay to Orange County. You wish you could be there experiencing the shoot.

One thing that I would like to mention here is the warm welcome extended to everyone on PFC on the sets of No Smoking. The cordial and delightful atmosphere along with the constant encouragement to PFC’s bloggers to treat the sets of …

Infidelity at Velocity [No-Smoking]

Don’t bother about the title. Just a few months more before we see and hear one of the corniest tributes to contemporary cinematic greats and they would not be complaining.

Juxtaposed against the hustle of the sets where even the Ads were working with the ART department…..last moment instructions being given…lights…..Jr. Artists getting into their grabs. Rajkumar looking a bit tense…he had to leave for Russia and there was a big shoot tomorrow as well.

Rajkumar: I don’t want to leave Anurag alone…….ok others are there…..but I wanted to be with him for tomo…..but even Russia needs to be taken care of….

You have to be there to witness this man’s commitment to the cause and as I discovered yesterday so were the others. Gautam….. and the others. [Sorry, I would have ideally named each and everyone of you]….Awesome team

Ok back to the Juxtaposition. …

Anurag’s favorite part of the film has started. It’s Baba Bengali’s legacy, with much awaited Anurag’s very own Gabbar, Paresh Rawal taking the centre stage! An old deserted mill touching the east sea coast in Colaba is the stage for Prayogshala. Its became a favourite spot for Bollywood after the dock scenes of ‘Hum’ and ‘Agneepath’ were shot. For films shot in Bombay vast silent space with high roof n walls within the city limits is ideal for shooting. The studios appear like a warehouse, even warehouses are used as studios ? A film maker inclined towards horror genre would be excited to have the ‘khundars’ here. But, the sets of No Smoking are very different and interesting, and can only be seen in the film. Just to give an example, there is a kind of magic box, where a person disappears when kept in it. Wasiq Khan’s team came …

sorry guys could not click the “prayogshala” nor “john”..nor “paresh rawal”[sala vasan to pir kiya kya????]……anyways a few which i managed. this does have the Narnia guy too. there is a poster i designed too. hopetodo better job if there is a next time.

“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 …

Friends!

I don’t think i’ve done such appalling photography ever in my life. Have been resisting from posting these online, but PFC are a determined lot. See, as i posted earlier, i landed at the No Smoking shoot only with the intention of getting a feel of the shooting, milieu and of course to observe AK at work.

Capturing images was incidental…never thought i would be posting anything here ..not even the experience…

So do excuse the terrible pic. quality – exposure, contrast, levels — all wrong.

good thing is, i like my photography unhearsed, candid and raw .. one day when i make my film i want my doP to have lots of work to do. ok.i’ll stop dreaming now…lot of hardwork to do in life…

Hope to post more..when i have work and a decent internet connection — or sooner…who knows.

…

(Warning – no offence to anyone – but my words have potential to be injurious to health! They’re usually honest n sharp!)

….ACTION!

This year I learnt,

‘Films are about people’

–Those who work on the film – crew, cast, everyone who puts in their sweat, blood, grey cells – black hair that turn grey…etc …

– Those who are in the film itself – the characters – their world, their spaces – life as it is lived.

– Those who watch the film or even choose not to.

This is why when Anurag mentioned on PFC that he’d be shooting at Dharavi I couldn’t help but pester him to allow my annoying presence on the shoot for that one day, for how else and where else would I experience film making on all these three levels and that too with a script that’s exceptional at level 2 – that …

It’s nineteenth December…My pre set mobile alarm goes off at 6.30 am…no idea since when it has been yelling at me to get my ass off the bed…I look at the watch…it’s gleefully announces 6.35…just a thought of crosses my mind …can I catch another ten minutes …NO…fear creeps in…what if that ten minutes turn out be an hour…NO…Boy we are shooting at DHARAVI, Asia’s biggest slums…can’t afford to be late…have to reach rather early…loads of thing that needs to be coordinated…just the thought of it…makes me jump… jump up from my bed.
7.25 AM I am auto rickshaw headed for seven bungalows, Andheri…it’s five minutes from where I stay…have to meet Prashant, another assistant director at 7.30…every shooting day I hitch a ride on his museum headed bike, he loves the bike, I love the ride…in that five minutes auto rickshaw ride to seven bungalows, thoughts cross my mind…what day …

[ oz Note : Sorry Manjeet... I'll use your post for this annoucement. PFC is looking for Hardcore Cinema Fanatics in Bombay. If you are a Cinema Fanatic who follows World Cinema with passion and would like to (1) Contribute to PFC (2) Visit movie sets and meet amazing cine-craftsmen inspite of a hard day at your regular job (3) Are excited to share your experiences with PFC readers... then please use the contact link above and write to us... We are looking for a few good men to join Kartik and Manjeet. ]

No Smoking Filmistan Studios

A set, resembling a police chownki was erected in the Filmistan studios. John and two character actors were there in the scenes shot that day.

The people who are familiar with direction would know the challenges involved in table shots, where characters are interacting sitting around a table. The key is how the director …

The location was Colaba. The place where I spent my early childhood…It was sort of nostalgic … Today was a day where it took lots n lots of efforts for very little screen time..On screen it might look simple but it just takes so much time n effort to make these shots possible…Pictures will give you an idea of what I am talking about. The sound department was not needed as no dialogues were spoken. Only John’s shots in the car were taken from inside as well as outside the car… …He was made to drive in South Mumbai or town side as its called by mumbaiya public… The camera setups were very interesting indeed, more like Hollywood style!.. Every filmmaker would love to lay his hands on it… I was amazed to see the designed structures, which took for ever to be set up! Ninad who designs these …

NO SMOKING – VISHAL – PIYUSH – GAJJU – MANISH – RANVIR – AYESHA

Ok this is a longish post … covering my interactions with the aforementioned people…. since what has happened has already been covered by anurag in his post here… I’m delving into a more personal one-on-one level discussion with these people. Additionally, sometimes the post ventures itself into hindi.

Wednesday evening – 7.30 pm
Eskay Resorts Club doubled up as the highway – resto-bar where Abbas(ranvir), K and Ayesha’s scenes were to be shot. Of course it had also the now famous Gajju – ala Gajraj Rao – ala Dhingra drunk scene.

Sumit and me arrived on the sets and we were treated to an ‘orgasmic delight’ when we saw Vishaal Bhardwaj and his wife Rekha(the singer)on the sets. I approached them with fear and trepidation. I informed Vishaal that I was there in FTII pune as well, …

Hi Oz, Sangeeta and other cine fanatics at the PFCI know am late in posting the details about my experiences on the sets off NO SMOIKING due to lack of time and somewhat crazy shooting schedule of oursbut I am well aware that the insights is being provided to you each day by AK and the TRIDEVS (Manjeet, Kartik and Sumeet) from PFC.

Day before morning we completed the twenty-fourth day out of the stipulated forty-five days of the shooting schedulealmost sixty-five percent of the film in over.

Twenty- four days of shooting has been quite somethingits been crazyits been excitingits been exhilaratingits been enlighteningits been frustratingits been chaoticits been a roller coaster its been sleepless. in Bombay but most of it has been a pleasure what the heckwe have completed sixty five percent of the film in twenty-four daysand completed the way we wanted to dothe way AK wanted …

A resort in the outskirts of a western suburb was selected for shooting a swimming pool, restaurant, bar and highway scenes. The call time was 2:00 pm and the shoot went on till 5:30 am in the morning. Some unit members have gathered around as early as 12:30 pm on the sets.
There were two European actresses in the scenes…Tall with great body and acting skills too… Tanya and Sarah visit Bombay…do acting/modeling …They just love Mumbai and its awesome energy. They still need to get use to our spicy food ?
It was a pleasure to see Vishal Bhardwaj and Piyush Mishra of legendary ‘Maqbool’ visiting the sets! They were overjoyed after watching the scenes shot earlier in the day. Even got a chance to talk to Piyush Mishra. The moment we started talking about Maqbool, Kartik just exploded with his analysis of Maqbool and importance of Kaka’s …

[oz Note:- Manjeet just sent in a few pictures which are being put here. Those who've been emailing who is Gajju, Piyush Mishra - as mentioned in Kartik's last post... they are here in the album of this post.
A funny note which I came to know from Kartik: As you know, the movie is being shot in sync sound. Meaning every actor has a mic hanging over his/her head or pinned to the chest. Sound that we will here in the theater was the sound directly being recorded on the sets (ofcourse with some engineering wizadry done later in the sound studios)... During a scene being shot on the sets one of the nights earlier this week... every one is silent, the camera is rolling... the actors performing... when the ADs and Anurag hear a hissing sound coming from the earphones... where the hell is the noise coming from??? The ...

Last minute improvs,nothing greater than that.. things are turning out better than expected..My AD’s are forever confused as they don’t know what we might do next..once or twice i was even forced by the shortage of time and other issues to do a shot breakdown..but it eventually remained on paper..

Initially when we started the film i was reluctant or you can say,i was unsure about John’s spontaneity..but soon he proved me wrong..given the space, no intelligent man will back off.. ok John Abraham is no De niro but he is one hell of an intelligent and sensitive man..you push his buttons and out flows an outstanding performer..we started improvising in the bathroom in worli house scene..i said lets do a kind of talking to the mirror, “are you talking to me scene”..but K is not angst ridden cab driver, so what would K do when he is confronted with himself.. …

NO SMOKING – JOHN’S MONOLOGUE & KARTIK IN WC

Sunday Morning 7 Am
I was on the sets wearing my green kurta (hoping the kurta effect would rub on me). Today was the day where the office and the cabin scenes were to be shot. The office of Pixon Studion looked like a modern day office, with green walls etc. It has to be, since it is a real office/studio and the guys had chosen a sunday so as to avoid being disturbed in the shooting.

Between, co-incidentally, the promos/trailers of Black friday were also being shot in the same studio. Unfortunately, couldn’t see them.

Met Anurag over breakfast. Asked him about Dhoom2. “I’m insecure since the audience liked the film !! The thing about Fanaa and Kank was that the audiences didn’t like the film. But Dhoom2 was being compared to Sholay !!!
How in heaven did they manage to …

What is the “No Smoking” Poster Contest?

Update (Jan 20)

The passionate response to this contest touches all of the No Smoking team… as a result we will now have 3 winners instead of one, cash prizes and credits in the movie… This as per Anurag’s latest message –

“The response is so overwhelming, that all of us including my producer,John Abraham has decided that we will have three winners and we will use the same concepts with our photographs and there credits in the film and will duly anounce it in the papers and also there would be a cash prize..for all three..right now shooting in snow under fifteen degrees, a lots of posts are due, expect them soon..back in india on 23rd..
cheers”

Update (Dec 5)

As per the latest info received from Anurag himself… The team of “No Smoking” will implement the winner’s concept and design for their official “No Smoking” poster…!!!

The …

Exclusive pics, John Abraham, Ayesha Takia, Anurag Kashyap, No Smoking

[oz note: here are the latest pictures from the sets of No Smoking taken by Manjeet...]

Some of the pictures in this album contain:

The location: Living Room of the Studio, with a glass roof top, giving plenty of natural light for the shot!

Sound and Camera unit with our stinking guy!

AK giving direction

Art department’s posters.

Art AD Shlok with AK, assistant Art Director Punita and Production designer Wasiq Khan.

Ayesha with her Mom, AK and other having a casual discussion

Dress dept’s assistant, Sunil and Shlok. Sunil n Shlok are ADs, who would be playing a small role of K’s office boys. Almost everybody on the sets have acted so far

Anurag and John trying to improvise a difficult shot. The shot had long, tounge twisting dialouges, which John cracked in few takes with his own improvisation, which added that extra magic in the shot.

Bird’s …

No Smoking Script First Thoughts

(Pls pardon for the long break .. was terribly busy catching work in office when not catching on my sleep. As I bonus I’m writing another juicy post soon.

Additionally, call it ironic, this article has been toned down and censored. Meaning I would’ve loved to talk/write more. But I’m afraid Anurag might not like that. Hope you guys understand that.)

Thursday Evening Worli (Yeah Manjit u were absent on this day… thanks to a cold)
It was the last day of the shoot in the 31st floored house of John-Ayesha. I came in late (was coming from office – far away) and entered the lift along with Sumit Saxena. We entered the lift and saw John entering in with his costume designer and makeup man and bodyguards(how can I forget them). He was a few hours late. “Next I’m gonna say NO to any …

The scenes of K’s office were to be shot. The location was Pixion labs, Bandra, which is a post production set up. Kartik was stinking like hell I don’t think he took a shower after the airport scene. Anurag made him wash his face and shave in deception of offering one more role:) Kiding. Guys Kartik is in one more role!Read his postJ

John’s wardrobe is awesome! The first thought came to mind was that the I could easily fit in the clothes! John and myself are almost of the same height. Almost of the same built, just have to take some fat from my belly and put on chest n back. May be put some muscles on my shoulders and biceps and I would be …

Kartik, Manjit and PFC – Bollywood Debut in No Smoking !!!!!

Ok let me start off in typical filmy fashion …

Int Kartik’s Office, 6 pm
Got a call from Manjeet. He said “No smoking shoot in Airport today at 9 pm… Need a Software Enigeer – South Indian looking- Laptop Carrying Guy as an extra. Will you come ???”

I said “Neki aur pooch pooch !!!” (English – Your asking me whether to do me a favour or not ??)

I jumped in my office cubicle. Called up Sumit Saxena (a theater passionate and a fellow friend, who knew anurag beforte hand) and rushed home.

Int Kartik’s house, 7 pm
I shaved after 2 weeks, had a bath after 1 week, put deodorant (after 6 months) and all the friggin colognes of my roomies (Now I know Girls are allergic to me !!) and was at the airport with Sumit at …

Update 3:

The team needed a character from South India who carries a laptop bag on his shoulder. So Manjeet called Kartik along with Sumit (an upcoming PFC Author who will exclusively be writing on Theater)…

Scene : Airport

The camera starts with focusing on the 3 PFC authors… as it moves on to catch John Abraham passing by them, towards the airport… that’s when Kartik says “I write for passionforcinema.com”… I guess they have little bit more screen time than Branson in Casino Royale…

The shoot’s just ended and the team has wrapped up. Kartik’s on his way home… and will be posting in detail about his experiences on the set. They have been called again tomorrow for the shoot.

Update 2:

Just wanted to note this: This is the first live reporting, in real time from the sets of any film shoot via bloggers… not sure if anyone has done this before …

            After been on PFC for few weeks, I could feel the minds of other bloggers. I remember the days, when I use to chat on yahoo in Bollywood chat room hoping to find people passionate about cinema. I was able to find just one girl from Delhi on yahoo, who was doing Mass. Comm. We discussed quality film makers such as Sudhir Mishra, Anurag et al. She even had Anurag’s phone#, as he had visited her school. This was more than a year back, when I was in the US thinking of returning to Bombay to pursue my dreams of becoming a film maker! I could not find any online medium where one could discuss cinema. PFC is such a great platform to discuss, learn and know the facts of film making.

            Seeing the popularity of Anurag’s blog, I could feel how thirsty people were to know about his film. …

{Update – the pics have been fixed… enjoy }

The first few pictures are of the 2nd Unit crew, which was headed by Raj Kumar(blue t-Shirt), with Kalpesh (AC holding the camera), Gautam (AD) and few other people.

Anurag has a habit of playing video game on a small digital hand held gadget with a match stick:)

The title ‘Director zameen pe aur actor aasman pe’ was given by Anurag for the pic where he is kind of on his knees with John standing in the background.

…

Its 12:00 am in the morning. The wrap up was supposed to be at 9:00 pm. John is giving a shot, suddenly gets aggravated and goes,” Don’t you know how to clap.” He walks off the shot and tells Anurag,” You know I got into an accident, my knees are paining. What is that guy doing?” The clap AD is Sunil. He is in a state of shock. Can not believe what has happened. He follows John and politely apologizes. John is furious and goes,” How difficult is it to clap? Let me show you how you clap.” Takes the clap from Sunil’s hand and claps it in front of his face. Sunil is almost in tears. The next moment John hugs Sunil. Everyone bursts into laughter. Everybody, who knew the plan was finding it difficult to control the laughter. Anurag had his face covered with his hand and was …

finally i can say that i am happy..things are going great..John has opened up tremendously..he has become so uninhibited..ayesha takia is a natural..now the complete onus of a fucked up film lies with me..if anything goes wrong, it will be my fault..we improvised so many scenes..i still am shooting K’s house..i am also lagging by two days on the house schedule..

yesterday was an indulgent day..we spent six hours trying to get a scene right..which was two and a half minute long, involving a lot of movement, and a lot of co-ordination from actors and the team and it also involved one of the actors going through complete make up change and reappearing in the same shot..all in two and a half minutes..we fucking did it..yesterday was indulgent because i had all the equipments i wanted,i had the probe lens,steadicam,panther dolly, phoenix crane,i had two cameras, one 435 with 900 zoom..i …

{oz note: here are the pictures Manjeet took on the sets of No Smoking… This is PFC exclusive. The pictures of No Smoking appear on PFC, thanks to Anurag and his gang!}
 
 
 

…

It was around 3:00PM, when I arrived on the sets, a penthouse on 31st floor of a tower in Worli. When we met Anurag was all smiles, and introduced me to various unit members as a member from PFC! Everyone was so nice that I felt I belong to this group in just a few minutes.

Wow what a spectacular view!! One could see our beautiful Mumbai Nagariya’s coastline from Colaba to beyond Bandra! It’s a place, whose owner would say, “Mumbai ka King Kaun?” The answer won’t be Bhiku Mahtre this time but ‘K’ played by the dashing John Abraham! ( I am just using Anurag’s dialogues. I have no idea what the character, dialogue or story is like.)

Soon the shot was ready. The …

Ramu has got his Gabbar..and i have found mine..finally..he plays “Shri shri prakash Guru ghantal baba bangali sealdah wale” in my film..the role for which we chased everyone from Pankaj Kapoor to Big B to Irrfan .. we now need to discuss the look and the language and the atmosphere..the nether world that he thrives in..

Adnan Sami sang our first song..The jealous of the cigarette song..you know my father respects me more today because Gulzar sahab wrote a song for my film..

We shot the second-most long and important sequence of the film .. the fourteen page long disintegration of John abraham..i always thought john won’t be able to pull it off..they scared me that a star would not work for more than eight hours..whatever they said can go to hell..the guy shot with me as long as it took..he did not sleep for fortyeight hours..he was supposed to look fucked …

The reason we are so behind as a a filmmaking nation is that we don’t love making films..since i started this blog there are only advices and complains from the filmmaking fraternity..am drunk out of my mind..my sound equipment hung up on me..i couldn’t take the vertical shot of the hospital because the camera didn’t have a vertical tilt grip..the problem with this country is that when we import equipments,we import second hand spare parts and we assemble them here..our government does not treat filmmaking more than an exercise in vanity..maybe we deserve it..no wonder when faced with beaureaucracy oliver stone decided to take his alexander to thailand..the reason we make most films abroad is because when we go there things are made available to us..most countries in the world look at films as the means to promote tourism, so they invite us, make all possibilities and let cinema prevail..our …

Finally shooting has begun..finally Ayesha Takia is locked in..finally major problems have begun..The day before the shoot, finally when K(john abraham)’s car arrived,,i really didn’t know what i had gotten myself into..Pajero from the fiat era..that looked like a beaten up safari..now how can my character who lives on the 35th floor in worli, signs cheques of obscene amounts without a thought could drive a vehicle like that..but its a pajero sir..who gives a fuck ..it doesn’t look like it.. had no option..asked my producer’s car crazy son to fix it or i won’t shoot.. my producer has gone nuts, he has banned smoking on the sets..a joke taken so far, that he fined me 500 bucks and then mother of them all..he gave me a reciept for it..somebody help me..
slowly i think john and me are understanding each other..it gets difficult sometimes to collaborate when a lot of …

Spent yesterday waiting for John to get free from his meeting..saw the thai-combodian-hongkong movie Dog bite dog..outstanding..FACEOFF meets OLDBOY ..rajkumar got upset with me because i asked someone to get me tickets for DON..
Raj k.-”how can you watch other films in the middle of your shoot”..
ME .-”sameway like you have the sexual urge 24/7″
he got angrier..first fight..many to come..had the big production meeting..i don’t know how to do the flash backs,if i use animation it would look too much like KILLBILL..don’t want to do it normally..neither do i want to do it abnormally..the whole film is abnormal anyway..i need more time with myself away from schedules..the production hustle bustle..how do people do shot divisions..i can’t..have always been spontaneous..that’s the only way i can work..
We discussed the Probe lens yesterday..great possibilities..it can go anywhere..hope it doesn’t go up my ass..need to find out how much it costs..are we ready for tomo …

It all started eight years ago when i was shooting for SATYA that Ramu told me a story about a chain smoker who gets into trouble with someone who hates smoking( a variation of which he shot in DARNA MANA HAI)..that sparked off an idea..which Ramu instantly laughed and scoffed at..i thought there was something in there but i didn’t know what..i toyed with it for long..had something roughly there but it was too much like THE GAME..after PAANCH got banned i was desperate to make a film..Paanch had a good buzz..there were producers who wanted me to make films for them..i met Boney Kapoor ,narrated him the incomplete idea which was then called, Cigarette smoking is injurious to health..He point blank, told me ,”Go back to the planet you came from”..every one thought it was weird, but none of them knew irreverence..

Kaykay loved the idea..only thing he said was …

I am so scared..i feel like i don’t know anything..three days to go and we don’t have an actress..ayesha takia or priyanka chopra..paresh rawal or irfan khan..god knows..irfan is not available before he is done with a mighty heart..i hope raj kumar santoshi doesn’t ditch us..will be great to have him act in the film..we have locked john abraham, ranveer shorey,aditya basu bhattacharya,joy fernandes..i hope i survive the mainstream..how much i want to go back to making completely independent films..i don’t know whether we will be able to pull of the special effects..gulzar sahab has written two cigarette songs ,four more to go..have to get the rights to the old songs..wish black friday releases soon..more freedom..have promised rajkumar(my associate) if we pull this one off,i will get him laid..i have to go meet john..have to show him all the coen brother’s films..especially big lebowski, barton fink and raising arizona..matthew robbins(sugarland …