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No Smoking, Calling all film-lovers! PFC’s shortest post.
Everybody wants to be heard. Evidently, i do too when calling attention to this post with the concoction of a title i’ve come up with.
Owing to our own biases (for & against), we tend to be determined to Love or Hate the film we bought a ticket for. Having done that to our heart’s fill let us not deny ourselves the experience that’s entirely ours when engaging with the screen in a cinema-hall that is a flickering temple for us cinephiles. It is true for filmmakers - worldover a filmmaker ends up watching more films than he can ever dream of making. We too, as film-lovers, would watch more films than we can ever aspire/wish to make. As it should be! None of us would want to trade places with the twain’s disproportionate ratio. What plays on the screen, flickering between light & dark, is what we make out of them. Of course there is the maker’s hand guiding us through the journey. But still, we as audience, are the ‘missing link’ for the maker’s journey to become complete. There are few (flawed) indicators that betray our willingness to facilitate completion for the maker. And it’s best for the evolution of the medium that this willingness is not corrupted by our biased determination.
A self-critical case in point: Owing to biases of my own making, i was determined to dislike ‘Manorama Six feet Under’ in my first viewing of the film. And sure enough, i did manage to feel vindicated by that first viewing of the film. Happy co-incidences gave me an oppurtunity to re-visit the film that allowed me to come-away with ‘my own private Manorama’. A testimony to the revelation is published here Manorama - an Addendum & a Re-View .
In the Bombay Film-making world where every technician & artiste is made to sign confidentiality agreements on the film they’re working on, we are here dealing with a film & a film-maker that chose to Blog almost every creative decision that was being made on the film’s making. It involved active participation from all of us readers here. I can’t think of precedences anywhere on the world stage. I’m confessing my very inabilty that i couldn’t confront well-enough with. And i would imagine that it might be similar for my fellow travellers too. That people (counting a few thousands) that make this site would have been as familiar with the goings-on in the film as i was, & hence found the sudden privilege (at probably an unconscious/subconscious level) too-close to be jolted by. In hind-sight, if the film’s Blogging didn’t exist chances are that this very film might have possibly been hailed as a masterpiece for what it has attempted to articulate. And in doing so giving us a film that cuts its teeth for the succeeding films to follow. As an author on this site that has access to email addresses of (revelatory) ‘participants in commenting’ it is disturbing to notice the amount of venom that has been spewed. To sample some typical email addresses(not necessarily the discouraging ones):
seventhsamurai@X.com
thinkingpictures@X.com
newcinema@X.com
flickerfilm@X.com
whistlingtalespictures@X.com
cinophile@X.com
scorcesefan@X.com & the innumerable (self-explanatory) cinema-referencing login names. What it tells me is that all of us here are film-lovers, and that a certain passion for cinema is almost our raison d’etre. But the film-maker opening-up to us with his film-making [& by extension to his life] is being ‘targeted’ with the very same privileges that he afforded us..
When biases are suitably-done-with, and when proceeded with our on-going relationship with the Screen we walk away with ‘our own private No Smoking’ that nobody has claims over. Film-maker, Critic, Quack(s) included.
29 Responses to “No Smoking, Calling all film-lovers! PFC’s shortest post.”
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Ok i have been following the ding dong battle between different groups of people out here on PFC as also the war in the media. And i just wanted to give my own thoughts on this.
For starters i have not seen No Smoking, it is difficult for me to get DVD’s of Indian movies in Seoul here. And even otherwise, i am no big fan of the surrealistic genre kind of movies either. Not that i hate em, but given a choice, i would any day prefer watching Black Friday or Insider genre of realistic cinema. So i really have no clue about the movie, except from what i hear out here and some reviews.
Now No Smoking might be a good or bad movie. Some people have liked it, some have hated it immensely. But the point is that instead of discussing about the movie, and why we felt it failed, or why you felt it was a classic, it has degenerated into a dirty form of personalized attacks, name calling, groupism. The only thing missing is “Kutte Kamine, main tera khoon peeonga” from this scene.
Now when a movie is released it will have its supporters and detractors.And its not necessary that every one should like that movie. Roger Ebert trashed Scarface when it was first released and even now to date rates The Usual Suspects as one of his worst movies. James Berardinelli gave a 5 star rating to Titanic, and trashed Heat calling it a colossal disappointment. And neither are critics free from biases. I am one big fan of James Berardinelli, but even i have to admit he has a big time Spielberg bias, to the extent that he tries to downplay Spielberg’s duds. And JB does not have any love lost for Tim Burton.
But the point is i have neither seen JB nor Ebert get into personal slanging matches with Brian De Palma or Bryan Singer or Tim Burton or Manoj Shayamalan. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a cult movie, which received pretty poor ratings from many critics, JB included. But i have not seen critics in the US indulging in personal attacks on Terry Gilliam.
I have been browsing articles and reviews over the last couple of days to see if i can get any info on No Smoking. And what do i see, one guy spends more time, attacking the movie maker, another guy himself admits he has no clue what noir movie making is about, another one is more of a business analyst, and the rest I dont even want to talk about.
No Smoking might be a good, bad or plainly crap movie. But we are not here to use that as an excuse to ask Anurag to retire or attack him personally. I dont recall critics asking Spielberg to retire after War of the Worlds or Manoj after the Lady in the Water. The last thing i want is for PFC to become a rediff message board.
If u feel that the movie sucks, please give ur reason why, but for heavens sake stop indulging in disgusting personal comments. And yeah dont give me that freedom of speech crap. That is a right to be used responsibly. No Smoking was the first of it’s kind in Indian cinema. Now it could have been used as a template to see whether these kind of movies could be made on a more frequent scale. But for that we needed a discussion on this movie, we needed to see what was missing in that movie, that could be improved in later movies. We needed to see what was good in this movie, that could be used in later movies.
But oh no we are not going to do that. No sir, we are going to sit on our haunces, indulge in name calling, fisticuffs, abuses. Yes sir, that is how we are and i guess will always be. I still do love PFC, and will always do. But i hope that people step in and take action. The last thing i want to see is this become another Rediff message Board.
Ok Anurag might have made a mess of this movie, it might be a dud, but does that mean, we go about asking him to retire, calling him a fraud, and all kinds of name calling. Hey man in life every one makes mistakes, and if people should retire just because they made a couple of mistakes, we would not have any one left in this world by now. So stop being fucking crusaders out here.
Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, was uniformly panned by all critics, but i dont recall any one asking Gilliam to step down or make movies like Brazil. Yes sure i want every movie of Anurag’s to be like Black Friday, hell i would love to see Anurag directing a thriller or a sci fi movie. But its his discretion and choice, of what kinda movie to make. Anurag is one of the most sensible persons i have seen, and am sure, he will come back with a much better movie for sure.
SO guys stop pulling him down and stop indulging in this kind of abusive name calling. We are here to discuss movies.
And this is to some supporters of Anurag Kashyap out here. There are many people who hated this movie, and most of them hate the YRF-KJo movies too. My friend called it a 0 star movie, and he is a big time fan of David Lynch. So please dont go around calling all those kind of people names either. As long as some one does not attack AK personally, i dont think any harm comes from listening to people who did not like this movie.
@ratnakar
The next post will be about where were you when karan johar, etc movies were happily trashed by pfcites.
The war of words is never ending. So, I think your appeal will fall into deaf ears. :D
As far as the reviewers you are talking about, they doesnt seem to know what hit them. One can easily make out from their writings. I think PFC reviews (both bouquets and brickbats one) were in a much better shape. Suparn Verma will be one mighty happy man today :D
@Ratnakar
Ask your friend to come to PFC and write a post trashing No Smoking. He, having seen, Lynch and others will be a welcome change both for supporters and detractors.
@OmPrakash
Guess so and thats sad, coz all said and done, i consider PFC as one of the few Indian sites, where i get to hear something sensible about movies, not just the reviews but even the comments section.
I just am hoping this does not turn out to be another Rediff.
@OmPrakash
He already has written under the name Nik.:). He like me is a regular to PFC.
@Ratnakar
Ask your friend to write a post trashing No Smoking. As you said that he is Lynch-ian fan and his article will be a welcome change to both detractors and supporters.
oh.. disregard the last post.. it seems there is something wrong with wordpress….
well I read your friend’s comments. It doesnt look any different from the comments that you are trying singlehandedly to bring some sanity. :D
He just said that he failed to understand any thing. He didnt point out the incoherencies in the script. It seems we should look for the script (which Anurag promised to release, though I think he shouldnt) rather than the movie.
@Omprakash
Could be, like i told u honestly, i am not the right person to comment on Anurag’s movie, because i really am not much into this genre much. But i really got bugged with the slanging matches going on.
@Omprakash
Seems like this is going to be like Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, critics ripped apart that movie, but fans loved it and i guess its quite a cult favorite.
Fear and Loathing is pure experience but in No Smoking it seems there are dollops of philosophy. And that’s where many are pointing fingers. I, too like you, have to wait for some torrent release (which I dont want to do this time) or netflix (most probably I am going to rent it if possible).
I would say it may be closer to lost highway, mulholland dr, etc kind of movies.
@ ratnakar
search for either of the above two movie reviews (particularly Lost Highway), it closely resembles NO SMOKING reviews in magazines/newspaper. However blogs on either of the films are very informative. And each need repeat viewings after reading a good blog to see what someone saw which you missed.
As Jean Paul Sartre said of Josef K., and by extension of all conforming humanity-
@ Om and Ratnakar, the best critique i have read till date with its conciseness and preciseness is not even on a PFC post.. its in the comments section by dabba…(comment 162 on anurags classic milds post)
that in itself says a lot about PFC, but it will be lost on the whole tribe of vandals though
No Smoking might be a classic or it could be even a dud. But the fact is this is the first time a genre of this kind was attempted in Indian cinema.
If the movie is a dud, lets see where it can be improved upon, where you feel it could be made better.
If the movie is a classic, what are the aspects you feel that made this a classic, so that if tomorrow some aspiring movie maker wants to make a movie in this genre, he has some thing to refer to.
Or am i asking too much out here? But honestly the discussion and debates are going nowhere here.
Iam planning to show a blank screen for 3 hours… i guess no one has attempted this genre before.. you look at the screen and think abt your own life how blank it is..
I guess everyone would have a different feeling towards my movie as their own individual life is different.. The Emptiness in each and everyone’s life wud be different..
I guess some ppl will love my movie too coz this genre has never been attempted before.. BRAVO me
I want my OSCAR plss
Editors Note (O): Abusive personal attack will not be tolerated…Lerrick first and last warning
Anurag, you copy cat. copied the theme of jacob’s ladder. shamesless pig. give my money bag for that trash of a torture you call “no smoking”. Leaving every piece of shit to the audience’s imagination. Dammit. Do something original next time.
Thani…great that u said that. but the morons of the world…when hav they learn to behave!!
@Alone: wrt comment# 17
Please do go ahead and make it…fortunately for you pfc has given you a platform for it and it is called pfcone…for more details check
http://passionforcinema.com/pfcone-film-festival/
OM: I don’t think one minute is enough to showcase Alone’s blank life!
Alone bhaiyya, picture ka title kya rakhoge?
Machchar…name of the movie? kya yaar….Alone mein hi title hain…;)
Machar read my comment again..
I said you look at the screen and think abt your own life.. :P ..
Picture ka Naam hai BLANK LIFE so when you view it u wud see MACCHAR KI BLANK LIFE..When OM will see he will see OM KI BLANK LIFE..
I hope the critics and reviewers wont accuse me of copying some movie eh..
Till date i have seen 440 names being blurted out on this forum saying NO SMOKING IS A COPY of watever watever..
i hope my movie wont meet the same fate.
And again, i can tell you no one has attempted this genre before..
Where is my OSCAR please.
Alone: You plan to deliver individual prints to each one of the audience or your movie is only on DVD-on-order so you can print the name of the person ordering your movie…
Accha, ek baat bata, credits mein kya daaloge? Based on Alone’s life? Because only someone who’s life is as empty as a Mumbai Souchalay can get the idea for such a brilliant concept! You need to take credit man! Rahi Oscar ki baath…Next time you go to crap, close your eyes and exhale deeply (first you got to get the steam or gas out of your system) and then just as we think about watching this movie, you can think about receiving the Oscar! Keep the tissues handy to clean your Oscar and rub it carefully…
Abbe Alone kahan gaya tu? Tera Oscar collect karne gaya kya? :D
Macchar, LOL
Sorry dude you not making sense and i guess u felt bad.. what’s with this fascination for sochalay..Now i didnt knw that you have a job to check how empty is MUmbai’s public loo .. LOL
Waise comment #17 was with respect the comment #16.. d0nt just appreciate a movie coz its a different genre.. i hope you got my point.
Dont get personal ..RELAX yaar… Chill :P Agreed you are macchar but stop dreaming abt public loo.. :P
I am relaxed yaar! Don’t worry about my job, I am sure you have more serious film making issues at hand. :D
And I am not talking about NS anymore…Let’s talk about your Oscar winning movie!
Sorry dude ..we will digress from the topic..
No more comment from me on u and ur sochalay fantasy..
hi Mr.KASHYAP
saw “no-smoking” yesterday… well written script (u r good at it), at last someone has made a “different” film in bollywood, it is suerly a nice psychedelic, surrealistic and psychological film… well u certainly reminded me of my favourite director “David Lynch”… i can see ur inspirations from “David Lynch” and “David Cronerberg”… but grt job paaji… fatte chak te tussi… carry on carry on