Kartik, Manjit and PFC – Bollywood Debut in No Smoking !!!!!
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 8.30 pm… wearing Formals-laptop and polished shoes (yes ..I had polished them after ages !!)
Ext Airport, 9pm
I saw Anurag walking in and checking the lights etc with his viefinder (I’m not sure if it is called that !!). He was alone. I was wondering how to approach him…I was bloody nervous as hell. It is strange when you meet someone whom you know is so talented …and whose work you’ve been admiring for some time.
Sumit approached him saying “Abey chal naa saale, Koi problem nahin hai !!” and went upto Anurag saying “Anurag Bhayya”. AK saw us and literally melted when he heard my full name. “So you are kartik … kartik krishnan ??? We meet finally !!” He remembers my sirname ???
We talked about how shooting is going on..about the sets.. the permission to go inside. Manjit and his fellow guitarist friend Sri had come in. We got inroduced. AK continued talking about foreign films. Dog bites Dog “Yeh mainey Italy sey mangayi hai” (I got this from italy) … “Fhalan Fhalana film maine Bangkok sey mangayi hai” Then he talked about Guru, Yuva and Mani Sir.
“If mani wants I’m willing to sweep his sets.”
“He is so tensed during the shooting that in every film he gets an Angina/Heart attack”
“I want to upload the original script of Satya (the one which Ramu threw into the dustbin) on PFC seeing how many are passionate about Satya.”
I met the crew.. Rajkumar.. Rohit… Gautam… his cameraman.. He introduced us to everyone. We were treated to sets ka chai – coffee- Dinner(Veg and Chicken Biryaani) and also Anurags Ciggeretes.
Then came the biggie ….
We were watching the monitor. AK comes to us (Sumit, Me, Manjit and Sri) and says “Chalo.. you are in the scene as a part of the crowd.. !!”
Initially I thought he was may be pulling our legs. But then the next thing we knew we are standing in our positions (as if a group of friends talking to each other). AK comes upto me and says “Say .. I write for passionforcinema.com” and tells his cameraman “Iska dialouge khatam hotey hi..pan to John and follow him”
So then I got the Synch sound lapel mike attached to my shirt and I started practising my lines. We took our positions and in the take, while I said my line and the focus was on us for 2 seconds.. John walked by and the camera followed him. The conversation went like this …
KK- “I write for passionforcinema.com” (All the following lines wer’nt to be taken but we continued talking anyway)
Manjit- “Really what is that ??”
KK-“Its a blog in which cinema fanatics all over …”
Manjit:“What’s a blog ??”
KK- “Its a blog in which (I’d lost it by now and started talking non sense) John Abraham walks upto to the airport check in counter all dressed up like a dapper in a suit sporting a french beard!!”
After the cut the child like AK came up to me, beating my back saying “Abey tu kabhi film nahi direct kar payega !! Camera On hai aur tu John Abraham bolta hai ??? Teri wajah sey retake karna padega”
I was apologetic and trying to show off my filmy knowledge I said “Boss I’m off camera, toh meri line key baad to aap meri aawaz kaat hi dogey na??”
AK “Abey Teri aawaz aa rahi hai monitor mein !!” He started laughing …
I think he was pulling my leg. Oh cummon .. once I said my lines .. and the camera is away … how does it matter what u say and do ?? I realised perhaps it does !!”
Retake…I delivered my line perfectly and didnt fool around and the shot came perfectly. YES 4 OF US IN THE FILM FOR 2 SECONDS, PUBLICISING PFC !!!
I told Anurag “Yaar yeh Edit kar dogey aap log !!”
AK ” Yeh scene edit ho hi nahi sakta !!! Chinta mat kar… Tum chaaroon log ho film mein ”
AK’s crew commented “Kya product placement kiya hai !!”
AK “Abey No Smoking ka product placement ho raha hai PFC par !!”
Throughout the shoot we kept looking at the monitor and fooled around with AK’s viewfinder.
We took snaps with John and john courtesouly recieved us well when he knew we were from PFC. I joked him about the kisses in Kabul Expresses and that’s why the big smile of John and my tounge in cheek in the pic.
AK talked to us about the film .. “Yeh film mujhe hindustan sey bahar phinkwa degi ….Its like a David Lynch film !!! A thriller has a solution … My film has no solution. Only college going suttabaaz,daroobaaz crowd will understand the film. Not the aam janta and the prudish parents!!”
He talked more about Mission kashmir, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ram Gopal Verma, Bhansali, Amitabh, Water, Main Aisa hi hoon, Tere Naam, Shool’s original ending, Kaun, forthcoming Shakalaka Boom Boom, Jhoom Bara bar Jhoom.
He said ” From now on, I get the screnplay, I write the dialogues in 48 hours and get paid * lakh ruppees and I buy my DVDs and move on”
“You wanna give me credit for a bad film … give me lots of money !!
You don’t give me the money…. then give me great work to do (Mixed Doubles)”
I still cannot understand how he shoots without a shot division. The last shot of the day had a continuity goof up.. so he improvised it and Ayesha takia to throw away the tickets.
“Its a different film… Realism be damned !!”
Anyways.. Cheers to my Bollywood debut.. Please watch No Smoking also for my ‘blink and you miss’ role in case John, Ayesha, Paresh, Anurag are not reasons enough. Watch out for the John-Ayesha Airport scene.. I’m the french bearded guy wearing flourcsent green Shirt and formals who says the line “I write for passionforcinema.com”
PS : I coulcnt upload the pics … therefore here they are ..
First photo with John Abraham … The card is the crew member-permission card on my shirt …
Well well…. If i join the gymn and quit smoking – drinking and get back to my sleep .. in a years time I’ll look like John.
As of now the only resemblance is the french beard
I pulled John’s leg on being kissed on the sets of Kabul Express by the 6 feet Afghans … Notice my toungue firmly in cheek
This is our final position in the film …
From left to right : Sri, myself, Manjit and Sumit Saxena
This is where I say my famous lines “I write for passionforcinema.com” and John comes from the behind.
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
Congrats dude, looking forward to seeing u at a Cinemax theater:) (one more ad placement!)
Congrats to PFC and the team! I’ve been a long time silent (well, almost) reader of PFC and love the website. I got very excited with this news that hence couldn’t help commenting
I know you all so well through this website that feels like one of my own buddies got such a wonderful break 
Kartik, it could be a 2 second scene but I know the excitement to be part of this project – such a dramatic way – is not less than one’s own blockbuster release! We all share your excitement..
Anurag Sir, you rock!
Cheers! ~o)
oh.. btw, pictures kahaan hai? :d
so PFC is now making actors out of its writers….Way to go guys!!! Look forward to seeing u on screen!
Congrats Manjit, KK, Sumit and Sri.
A nice debut as actors!:)
Cine fanatics to PFC authors to actors and tomorrow may be directors!
Great going guys:)
Manjit,
ye kurta kahan se liya tumne?
Red hot stuff! Congrats, guys!
@ Suparn – Thanks …
Between when is your film .. When shall I come for an audition ??? (No seriuosly !!!)
@PlanetSonal – Thanks a lot for being the silent admirer .. and thanks for sharing the excitement …
Between it is not a good habit to be a silent admirer. Please do drop in every now and then with a comment … Bring them on :-)
Can u see the pics now ??? they are there on the postscript link
@Sophocles – correction .. Anurag is making actors out of PFC writers/authors …
Me too can’t wait to see myself in the film .. I just wish i had a slightly longer role (me being the greedy and selfish self )
@RK … thanks a ton .. and hey did u know that manjit got this ‘role’ because of his kurta ????
@Ramble … yeah baby !!!! Me elated
KK:
I was wondering if John did not admire Manjeet’s kurta. I am sure if Vivek Oberoi was there in place of John Manjeet would have lost his kurta.
KArtik babu bangaya hero!!!!
Hi Kartik,
Mabrook mere bhai.. all the best for future.. no plans for playback singin? ;)
KK: Hope no one writes about your performance in No Smoking on PFC comparing you with Mohit Alhawat
)(remember ur Shiva review):d Just Kidding 
Congrats.
Praying that Nagesh Kukunoor calls u next when he makes ‘Rope’ (the sequel of ‘Dor’)=))
Wow!!! KK…Will look out for you…\:d/
hey if u can write the summary of the discussion u had with anurag , it would be great.
saala kartik haven’t seen you online since you became famous.. aisa hi hota hai kya?
) just pulling your leg bro.. great going! =D> will chat on this more soon.. when’s your next visit to the sets?
Anurag, hope Mid-day does not write about this also saying u r copying Subahs Ghai. emeber Taal. It was more like watching a movie in a commercial break.
Kartik / Manjeet Kooooooooooool going guys. U have been sketched in the history of Bollywood. Looking forward to some more cameos.;)
- Kartik, I am COMPLETELY UPSET, that you had to make Anurag take a retake because you kept talking crap in the mic. How could you have taken the name of John Abraham in the shot knowing he IS IN THE MOVIE!!!!! I had such high expectations of you… you have Totally Let All cinema fanatics down… humari izzat ka aaj tune falooda kar diya… :-w … with this BIG MISTAKE all beers I owe you is hereby CANCELLED ;)
hi kartik! so what exatly did anurag talk to you about filmmakers like vidhu vinod chopra, ram gopal varma and sanjay leela bhansali? do post if there was any interesting to share…really had no idea that anurag had written another version for satya which rgv threw in the dustbin!i believe anurag’s version of sholay is also in rgv’s dustbin…
Abbei Kartik…Yeh kya kar diya yaar.. You have definitely not put forward a right kinda example for future PFC writers/Actors…Meri bhi waat laga dee na tumne… I was planning on dropping at the sets and getting a part to play…How on earth can you take John’s real name when the Mic is still rolling…WTF????? Atleast you could have said “K writes for PFC” tchi tchi tchi…shame on you..shame shame pappi shame=))
- Manjeet dude, just checked your satrangi kurta… could you tell me where did you buy it from. t! thinks that place may also have bedsheets of similar print that she would like to buy for her home. just kidding :p
Adda paavi KK, Oy Manjeet (satrangi re)…
yeh main kya sunn/dekh rahaan hoon… thiruttu pasangala… kal kahoge “writer ban na chahtey the, lekin actor ban gaye.”
KK, Manjeet, Sumit, Sri – PFC ke honhaar bachhe – Congrats!!
Karthik how could you forget to write about Sumeet’s appearance in the scene. Guys there was a scene of John where Anurag made Sumeet walk on the right side of the frame throughout the scene for good duration.
The Art department did such a wonderful job of making everything look real! It was hard to distinguish the stuff put down by the airport and by the unit!One could not make out fake air hostess, ground staff,ticketing people…
So much so that we had to ask the person roaming with snacks n drinks if he was working for the unit or not. This time it was other way around. Shrinivas got a tea for himself.
There were 50-60 extras called on location. It was a mixture of white people, models, people appreaing to be high class…
I got sick with cold, cough n fever may be because of the strong AC at the airport. Had to miss yesterday’s shooting. I was reminded of Gautam’s advice, who happens to be MBBS to drink 2 glasses of mausambi juice, which would give enough vitamin C n B complex to fight the virus. Now I am feeling a lot better!
The kurta is indeed very catchy. Everytime I wear it people have to praise it. I got it from Goa a long time back. Tried finding similar stuff for my friends but could not find it :(
The pictures were taken by ‘Toto’ the publicity photgrapher using my camera, as his camera is too professional and would need change of settings.
The pictures, which Toto has taken so far are mind blowing! John looks immensely dashing in those photographs. Like an Italian don in few of them!
Toto is funnily called Toto Photo. Anurag calls him Toto Photo Shoto :d
Unfortunately we can not put Toto’s pics on PFC as there is some kind of PR agreement.
oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
yaar aur kya kahun toooo freakin’ excited to watch that scene/movie.
\:d/< :-p
btw dont mind the goofup yaar probably was your 1st time, i have never faced the camera (apart from the wedding functions wale camere and least of all this magnitude) but can understand ur nervousness/excitement.
>>>>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 8.30 pm… wearing Formals-laptop and polished shoes (yes ..I had polished them after ages !!)
ho kk ban gaya gentleman….
kk, yes.. all jokes aside, no worries about the re-take.. my very first scene in my very first movie, i took 20 TAKES to say “count me in, i’ve got some news that’s gonna give your spurs a spin” :( of course i can laugh about it now, 3yrs later.. but back then, i had nightmares that i was gonna get a call from the director telling me that i’m out of the movie and that i’d never work as an actor again.. thankfully, this is one nightmare that hasn’t come up true :D
Oyyee Yaar tum log tho serious ho gaye..me only trying to kheencho KK’s taang yaar!!!!
Cool guys…no better way of endorsing PFC:d
chill yaar .. all this started by anurag’s comment … he was just trying to pull my leg …
met him last nite … and he saw the reaction …. everybody scolding me on PFC blah blah … and he was getting some sadistic pleasure laughter out of it …
But I’m telling you .. that guy is a gem !!!
He let me read his script !!!
@ Kartik – I was laughing as I read this, it is as funny in print as it is when you tell the story!!! Can’t wait to read more!
@ Manjeet – Funny thing, I saw your picture before I saw oz’s comment, and I thought that I would definetly wear that kurta if I could buy one that attractive here…..
what the hell? I want to be in bombay too! i am sure I could pass off as a cleaning lady on the airport :D
chandni … welcome to the club .. there’s a looong queue ….
ahem.. yes.. i’m hoping i’m in the top 5 :D :-”
[oz is undisputedly at the topmost slot]
Hello Anurag congratulation where you start and where you come really you are lucky some are still did not get the chance to were to start . best of luck for no smoking.