NO SMOKING- happy days are here again
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 shot for seventeen hours at a stretch and my actors rocked..we improvised a scene with John which 90% of the mainstream stars will and won’t do because they would be afraid of changing there image..
Finally i can also say that no smoking is becoming a film based in bombay city..shot in a way where bombay will look like a metropolis..i did not want the house to look like Karan Johar rich..it had to and is looking real rich..i am happy..today Rajkumar and Gautam are shooting the second unit with Kalpesh ,the cameraman’s first assistant..pappu poser went along too..media has been hounding me about this blog..well i would rather write here , where i can abuse and vent out without thinking of repurcussions..
tomo we shoot the special effects sequence..first time i shoot on green mat..i hope we get it right..in one shot i have to show time transition while John reads the Cigarette shastra..his beard grows simultaneously,day and night pass behind him in the window..well, que sera sera..
Vishal Bharadwaj finally saw the rushes and he called up everyone and congratulated them..he has already contributed a lot to the script..some incredible situations have come into the script because of him..Aarti has also started lining up the scenes..we have a new member in the team..its aarti’s assistant Rinkoo..another new member is manjeet who has become kind of dangerous..he watches everyone and one rather not say anything in front of him or else he would be on PFC the next day..
we have finished fifty % of the talkie..probably more..still 22 days of shooting left..two songs and the Prayogshala..we still have to finish john in the bathtub..i am just being random today and reporting because i haven’t in many days,becoz i haven’t felt the angst and the heat in last so many days..its all happy happy now..
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
- Fantastic!!! And great to see a happy happy state of mind amongst you and the crew… the comment of Manjeet cracked us up
) … t!, Sumeet and me are having our morning tea while reading your post at my place in OC…
Many questions on the 17 hour shoot… will post on that in a few hours…
Anurag bhai.. No smoking getting soooooooooo much media attention.. today mid-day has john’s interview.. and he said that you are a true genius … it’s great that it’s getting kinda attention.. and glad to know that happy days are here agian \:d/\:d/
Guys, can someone pls pls pls give me a link to Anurag Kashyap’s legendary review of Black? How strange, I easily find Subhash k frustrated jha (pirated version of Roger Ebert’s milkman) but not the review itself.
Anurag bhai: Where can I get Allan Moore graphic novels in Mumbai?
P.S.: Subhash Jha thinks Vivaah is a good film.
Its great to know that John is finally doing his job
This blog has certainly put the movie at the center of media attention. Anurag bhai what u have started is a trend, a revolution as far as movie promotions are concerned. I already forsee more such blogs coming forth for all major releases. Also, congratulations that ur producer has appreciated ur work. i guess half ur battle has already been won. Honestly, I don’t see anyone backing this kind of a subject other than the creator of Maqbool and Omkara. Also, the cigratte shastra scene u have mentioned, from the what u have described, I believe it must be a kind of a time lapse sequence. If so, that’s just cool. I can already viualize it. Dude reading in the bathtub and the world just passes by. great stuff!!!!. if this is a glimpse of the bigger picture yet to come, then I am sure ur gonnna rock the country next year. I hope this is a cross between Fight Club and Trainspotting. All the best bhai.
anurag, does this mean daaru-shaaru is on hold for now? ab peena hai tho khushi ke jashn mein peena.. gham ko bhulaane ke liye nahi
on another note, did a search for the article vipin mentioned. here it is:
http://www.mid-day.com/smd/play/2006/november/146868.htm
Anurag…please dont use excessive lightening…keep it dark and gloomy, though I dont know about the movie…but whatever I have gathered from your posts here…I imagine NO SMOKING set in rooms with RED and/or GREEN lights….
Here are some weirdo suggestions:
While shooting ” time transition “…I think blackening of Jhon’s eye circles could be shown. (just a weirdo thought!!!)
As your protagonist is trying to leave smoking…
Scene1- In desperation he picks cigarettes and starts smoking and feels satisfied and content…
Scene2- But realizes he was having a nap,wakes up and starts crying…in further desperation he picks the pack and lights a cigarette …
Scene3- He is again crying with 6-7 cigarette buds in the ashtray (guilty of again letting himself to smoke)
Actually there are lot more suggestions, but I dont know which one’s will be feasible/viable to you.
anurag u rock man..hats off to u..i’m sure u nd john wil shake up th entire filmy scn..fuck al th shit kaaran jo is producing..al th best..and wish u luck for no smoking..thanks for not smoking…al th best…hope black fri also releases soon\:d/
Hi Anurag.. Went thru all wht u hv written and i am so glad you are making ur film the way u want to make it.
I’m sure it will be a good piece of cinema..
All the very best to you
(I met you at the screenwriter’s conference in Pune. I was the one who asked the question that a couple of director’s couldn’t answer {not taking names} and u came out and told me how u were waiting for their reply which they couldn’t muster up..)
Cheers anurag..
Just spoke to abbas about how u hv a character named after him..
Good stuff!!
Keep Going..
And ya.. I watched Black Friday..
What a film… Left me speechless..
(Sorry, it was a pirated copy)
The soundtrack of the film, as it is, had become the background music for most of the books i hv been reading since it came out.. (it sounds so awesome while reading Shantaram and Godfather)
Anurag, have you seen ‘Thank you for smoking’. The opening credits of the film are just too good.. Check it out if you get the time..
Till then..
Cheers..
Keep rolling… Camera!!
Hi Anurag,
Pratim here from The Telegraph, Calcutta. This is the exact reason I haven’t got in touch with you… if you are actually taking time out to blog about the movie, it absolutely doesn’t make sense to ask you why you are blogging? But what is a big relief is that it is you behind all those postings and not like QT’s fake blog… While you have been touching on every possible aspect would still like to talk to you about this whole brand of chaotic cinema that you believe in… where few pages of treatment and truckloads of spontaneity lead to great cinema… very new wave! I have your number, we have chatted before (a week before Black Friday was slated to release)… don’t know whether you remember… anyways let me know when you finish your schedule and can chat up for a few minutes… Spoke to Ayesha… said she was delighted to work with you and wants to do another Dor… I believe what she meant was he performance level because as I look at it No Smoking can be anything but Dor. Keep rocking!
Hi!
Great to c Mr. Kashyap in action! But frankly I trust Vishal B more than you. There is too much inflience and inspiration in your life – it all leads to plagiarism. Look at ur Guru Martin n ur work … u need to go back look in to your self find ur story … I hope No Smoking is fresh.
I would prefer HAASIL by Tishu, it was his slice of life … where is your slice and if u do not have one … u will keep getting inspired. These are not suggestions but observations by a fellow writer n film maker.
CHEERS!!!!
mahen
There is no doubt about the quality of No smoking.. but the main concern is how it will work on boxoffice… it should not happen that he will make damn & dark great movie & it will get rav reviews from crtitcs but empty movie hallls… and after that he has to agian need to knock producers & actors door to make a movie.. so Anurag bhai.. we beleive you totally.. but dont make the movie very dark.. but there should not be any comprmise in quality .. put some commercial elements the way vishal bhardwaj making … and i m sure it will big huge hit.. best wishes
Having known AK (for a short while), I think this film is a “BIG FU” from him to all his detractors and people who wrote him off. Its been quite a ride for him. At one point, reaching even 1% was a distant dream. 50% is a wohoo! I hope those depressing days and nights are buried in the closet. Cheers!
What is the cigarette shastra??:D
Fantatsic to see you happy Anurag…. You have cast us in such a hyponitic state that.. your feelings are being felt by us here….You get sad…we booze, you feel happy…we drink..Tea this time as mentioned by Oz…lol!!!!
17 hours of work and no cribbing…that is passion…Yes sir that is passion!!!!! Wish everyone was like that….
Anurag something out of context from this post…Remember you mentioning you had a scene were your cast was supposed to smoke…but, as the censor board has banned it…it would be interesting to note..how would you pull it off?
Vipin, BO be damned. Film should be good.
Anurag, as far as I have been able to understand, violence, for Scorcese, is the story of the struggle of human spirit against his environment/situations. For Tarentino, it is his cinematic style, the garishness of which reveals to us the very garishness of violence itself.
Correct me if I am prejudiced, but I find a stream of violence running through your creativity also. What is it that Anurag Kashyap wants to communicate through violence?
Your happy days are back as your film black friday will be releasing on 9th feb this is the greatest news for us filmy fans. We will be seeing your much awaited debut as a director. We know anurag as awriting genuis but we always wanted to see u as a passionated director and ur vision as acaptain of the ship on big screen. Aap ka kam aab filmy duniya dekhegi. Fuck the groupisim and vetrans who want to rule and ruin the industry with your honest work.
Appu
Hi sir! I am from Hans Raj College batch 2006, and its great to see your work. Am proud that an alumnus of my college is doing such great work inspite of all the Censor board gymnastics!! All the best, m looking forward to seeing a lot of other good work from you!!