Lighting up on screen
iView Author:
Azad
(Bangalore, India)
Email:
azad.ksingh [at] gmail [dot] com
Lighting up on screen
“I like to think of fire held in a man’s hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind–and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression.” ~ Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
Smoking means different things to different people. To some, it’s a habit they find difficult to give up. To some, it’s a way of depicting defiance. To some, it’s a tonic which relieves them from stress and depression. There are also people, who smoke just for the love of it and without any reason. And to a certain minister, it’s a claim to fame.
Directors like Anurag Kashyap, Mahesh Bhatt, Shekhar Kapur are dead set against the ban. Film maker like Rituparno Ghosh states that even though he is non smoker, he likes to show his characters as smoker because smoking helps in providing depth to the character. Aamir went on record to voice his opinion against such a ban, but that was prior to Rang De Basanti got a theatrical release. Shah Rukh did a flip flop with supporting the ban earlier, but publicly going against it when the minister got personal with him. Rajinikant has promised the health minister that will not light up on screen in future. Amitabh Bachchan seems to have maintained a stoic silence on this topic.
There have been reports that some cigarette companies have lobbies in the hindi film industry, and because of that some movies have deliberate scenes of smoking.
In spite of all the controversies and hullabaloo regarding smoking on screen, hindi cinema does have some very memorable smoking scenes which leaves a lasting impression on the viewers. It’s too difficult to come up with all such scenes which were brilliant, but the one’s that come to mind immediately are stated below.
Ajay Devgan in Company, Gangajal and Khakee are one of the most stylishly shot on screen scenes. Smoke filled screen with the dark looks of Devgan, has a mesmerizing effect on the audiences. The pensive look with a burning cigarette in his hand reminds me of the quote, stated above, from Atlas Shrugged.
Ashok Kumar in Howrah Bridge. I had seen Howrah Bridge when I was a kid and have never managed to catch up on it since then. The smoking sequence of Ashok Kumar is one the few sequences of the film that is still etched in my memory.
Sanjeev Kumar in Trishul. For smokers, nervousness and cigarettes go hand in hand. Sanjeev Kumar had managed to come up with mixed emotions during the sequence where Amitabh Bahchcan reveals his identity. His cough after a puff of cigar, is simply mind blowing.
Aamir Khan & Co in JJWS and Young John Abraham with Ranvir Shorey in No Smoking. What a pleasure it is light up a cigarette in school’s bathroom without letting your teachers and parents catch you!! The thrill of doing something despicable is irresistible at such a tender age. Lighting up the first cigarette is like losing your virginity. You are not sure whether you are going to like it, but nonetheless you are excited about it. Nothing on screen can depict the thrill with such innocence as depicted in JJWS or No Smoking.
Amitabh Bachchan in Deewaar, Don. Amitabh Bachchan can carry of any smoking scene with panache. Be it the yeh mera dil sequence wherein he puts on his thinking cap, with a cigarette in his hand or the sequence in Deewar before and after he has to face a certain death or the bidi sequence before the gowdown fight, Bachchan has managed to create a lasting impression. How I wish, that Yash Chopra had filmed a sex scene before the bedroom smoking scene.
Pankaj Kapur in sehar. The climax of sehar reminds me of situations wherein people light up a cigarette to avoid breaking down in front of others. Instead of tear flowing from his eyes, we find smoke coming out of his mouth. What a choking effect it had on the audiences. A thought of the sequence is powerful enough to force me to light up a cigarette.
Siddharth in Rang De Basanti. Siddhrath’s smoking depicts nonchalance and care a damn attitude. He smokes because it’s the best thing to do at that point of time. He finds smoking to be more entertaining than listening to the clatter of people around him. For him, smoking has to be the best experience at that point of time. The second half puts him in a thinking mode and the cigarette automatically disappears from his hand.
Let’s not discuss here the moral/immoral aspects of smoking on screen, but rather concentrate on the cinematic brilliance associated with smoking.
Filed Under
PROJEKT iVIEW
Loading ...
14 Responses to “Lighting up on screen”
Leave a Reply
(Ref smilies)
Our Comments Policy : The following kinds of comments are troll capped, blocked and/or commenter's identity reported publicly: Verbal abuse, personal attacks, hate statements, spam, trolls, advertising. Please assist us in keeping the comments clean. Use the contact form to let us know if you find unwarranted comments on PFC. Thank you.
-
Advertisement
-
- Sorry Bhai R
- Irresponsible medium:Shame on me to be an aud
- Oye Dibakar, Dibakar
- Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! Reviews from re
- I’m mad as hell and I won’t take it any
- Dev.D- Emosional Atyachar
- The assault on our intelligence, no pun intended
- Catherine Deneuve in India - Win World Cinema DVDs
- OLLO is an incredible study of human character
- Who Is This Terrorist?? An answer
-
Advertisement
Hottest Today:
Recent Posts:
add Amitabh Bachchan’s cigar chewing scene from Family. what a style!
With all said and done the point is does a ban on portraying characters smoking in films really help reduce the number of smokers in reality??? I think its completely foolish on the censors part…
We do not show couples making love on screen still we are such a hugely populated nation…
Ajay devgan takes the cake with his smoking in COMPANY for the sheer style…. The scene where he takes a puff releases it and says ‘hamaare dhande mein ek galti ko maaf karna usse bhi badi galti hai’ …wow!!!
Pran saab is the top most champion as far as using smoking to bring some additional emphasis in the scene. Ashok Kumar was champion not in smoking but using the process of lighting the cigarette or cigar. He used the pre-lighting phase, and Pran saab used after lighting.
—
Sometimes smoking can be useful in showing some scene but to say smoking on screen does not affect psyche of audience especially youth at the edge leaving schools and entering college is quite naive. If smoking is shown to elaborate heroism then it affects. If a rapist is shown to smoke before he attacks the female on screen then perverted may take inspiration because but when a hero is shown in a heroic manner and youth minds think that it may enhance theoir own appeal then they take inspiration. There are full chances Shahrukh Khan’s son will be following up smoking soon (if he is not exposed to side effects of his father’s act or he has seen him suffering because of this habit). all other kids have no real exposure to Shahrukh and when they see their favourite actor smoking in TV studios while giving interviews then they think its a cool thing. They find him healthy, shining and intelligent. They cant think he has all facilities to remain healthy. and when a poor boy will immitate him he has to suffer.
May be Bengali men smoke a lot and hence bengali filmmakers have been using too much smoking on screen but when a non smoker and non bengali sees their male character smoking sitting on his bed inside his bedroom and that too when his bed is covered with a net and finds his wife not protesting then it says about their acceptance of passive smoking passive behaviour. Those who dont smoke cant sleep under that smoky atmosphere.
No Doubt, all social bengali films, which show acceptance of smoking at such large scale bring approval of smoking in society.
A person having something in home, since childhood learns it very fast. If he has a car then chances are by the time he is 12-14 he will able to drive it(leaving aside license requirement). If he has horse he will learn horse riding.
In Village, boys start smoking at eary age because they see elders smoking all the time at every place. Only slaps by time and when someone smoking a lot suffer from illness make a stop on such tradition.
Like anything Its about proper use of smoking on screen. Does your character need it? if not then why to increase your budget even by some 100 Rs?
i feel siddharth overacted the smoking scenes in rdb
AB in Deewaar smoking beedi in godown/in goons face during hafta collection takes the top spot !
RK i fully agree with you when you say that Pran was the best. Just yesterday I was seeing the movie Pehli Jhalak and he was gheraoed by girls and was smoking out circles in the air !!! wow !!
I think it all depends on the parents upbringing for a child, to “prevent” himself from smooking - imho
Dev Anand’s smoking in Guide, Solva Sawan and Johnny Mera naam..gave him an extra edge as a character..Uttam Kumar’s smoking in many Bengali movies..a whole generation took to smoking because of hime..dunno if its a good thing!!
Then, Vinod Khanna did those Mere Apne scenes with Shatru Sinha and both had their own ways of doing cigarettes..that was awesome!
Even Amol Palekar did the stick acting very well in Golmaal.
@RK - Agree with most of the points raised by you, but whatever be the reason for showing it on screen, no one has the right to question the intention of the director behind the scene. You either agree to it or disagree to it. And what’s wrong if smoking is shown as heroic?? Should the director be reprimanded, if shows violence as heroic, as was the case with RDB?? And if a scene looks heroic to someone, I believe it’s entirely the interpretation of the audience, and may or may not be the intention of the film maker. Gabbar Singh looked heroic to most of the audience but I dont think that was ever the intention of Sippy.
I don’t want to get in such a debate. Lets concentrate on the cinematic aspects. Pran too has some brilliant smoking scenes, but I cannot attach any kind of emotional aspect to those scenes.
@filmibhai. Siddharth smoking takes the top slot of my list, as I was able to relate to it more than the rest of them.
@indraneel. How I forgot to include Uttam Kumar. I haven’t seen much of his movies, but I clearly remember the scenes from Nayak.
@kcp - Bang on target. Parents should take the blame more than any unknown film maker, if a child takes up smoking at an early age
1947 Earth…aamir khan smoking and undergoing a character transformation at the same time
Nothing can beat that
“You can’t argue with my logic! Well, you can, but I won’t listen!”
Pavan Malhotra in Salim Langde pe mat ro…he is talking to Tom Alter…he is totally frustrated…not sure what is exactly happening to him and what he needs to do…in an extremely turbulent state of mind…he appeared like he would blast any moment and then… two puffs of cigarette and as the smoke releases and the tension starts vanishing… turbulence is now turning in to melancholy…simply brilliant!! performance by Pavan Malhotra.
AB’s beedi smoking godown scene is the best.
I can not deny the fact that on-screen smoking doesn not have any impact on reality. Well, it does and to the fact, it is one of the main motivational factor indeed. Film makers can escape from this fact. Well, how long?? It is human psychology to justify among themselves.