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NO SMOKING-improvisations unlimited
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.. K is vain, selfish, eccentric, narcisisstic, despicable asshole..he could have nothing but admiration for himself..so we did one free for all self admiration scene in front of the mirror and it bloody rocked..that gave me the cue to take the character further..next scene the man actually, while talking to his wife starts to give himself a beauty treatment.. John was a scream..
Finally we started shooting with Ayesha Takia..having been wanting to work with eachother for such a long time..finally we get a chance..oh she is a natural..she might have made choices one doesn’t approve of but so have i..look at my bio on IMDB, the shit that i have been associated with..no gun on my head..post Kajol and Rani she is the one i can say is a natural..Nikhil Advani also said the same thing(by the way Salaam-e-Ishq rocks)..i improvised as many as three complete scenes with her which were not written into the script..showed them to vishal..expecting him to say why are you shooting scenes which are not there, instead he burst out laughing..i was with the right man..love him..i was told he was dancing in his house to the song that he did for my film..vishal bharadwaj dancing..in the privacy of his own house..have to see that.. can’t imagine him dancing..i remember seeing Ramu dance once and he was so reluctant it was funny..years later at someones wedding when i saw ramu again and casually said someone should make him dance..his then assistant Rohit Jugraj got so upset with me he broke glasses around me..anyawys..
Ayesha came up with an incredible improvisation for her secretary’s character..it was so good that it almost defines that character now..then the RDX was dropped on me..she was not just reluctant she refused to do the lovemaking scene..i needed the goddamned scene and i also understood her uncomfortability..i told her don’t worry i will change the scene without knowing what i am going to do..i scratched my head all bloody night..i thought of a way of doing the scene where everything could be simulated and then can also be funnier..but to pull it off,John had to be more comfortable with it than ayesha..i first bounced it off vishal..he said its better to do it this way than showing everything..its more creative..i told John..he didn’t react immediately..he asked me,” are you sure, you don’t want to do it the way you wrote it”..i said yeah..he asked me does ayesha have a problem..i said No ..its funnier this way..he said ok..Now offcourse he knows that Ayesha’s reluctance to do it straight forced my lazy mind to think because i was forced publicly to acknowledge her reluctance’s contribution to the scene..it turned out to be the best scene we have shot so far..
Am trying so hard to maintain the rich look of the film and look real..don’t want it to look like the Yashraj Rich..its not just difficult its painful..to get a real big office is a pain..had to divide one office into five locations..am now frequently breaking down one location scenes into three to five location scenes just to maintain pace of the film..yet get scenes in one single shot..difficulty is that it should not become long or boring..another problem is that one of our icelandic actress dislocated her knee joint..she has to go back for treatment..i can’t wait for her to comeback..nor can i replace her..so i improvised a scene where she can go back or she might stay..lets see whether she is there when we need her..
Had to shoot a nine page scene to be shot inside and outside a restaurant..couldn’t find one on the highway..could not afford the one we did find ..so this time we not just improvised the restaurant we also improvised the highway..Gajraj Rao rocked in the one scene Cameo..no one else could have done it..he spontaneously not just changed his character name in the shot..he changed his whole character,right in the middle of the take..what a funny bloody scene..thank god nobody started laughing during the take..everyone burst out at the sound of cut..it was so good that to keep it i had to alter the whole bloody scene that followed..which we gladly did..lines are changing,elements are improved upon and essense remains the same..its not so alarming or difficult as it may sound..had a long discussion about it with Karthick, Manjeet and Sumit afterwards..finally karthick doesn’t ask me “how can i shoot without shot divisions”..
Haven’t slept in so long..feeling jetlagged..have popped a restyl, still cannot sleep..so i am here..until later..
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Hottest Today:
- You know Anurag… when I read your posts… I just end up following you word for word… it’s only later after an hour or so that questions start popping in my head. By that time someone or the other has already asked you the same… now since I don’t wanna leave without asking a question… here’s one :- do you think a blogger like Kartik has any future in making cinema his profession?
AK, reading your post remind me of some stuff I read on Mike Leigh(naked, secrets & lies, vera drake)long back. He created basic character sketches and let the actors meet and improvise as if they would have met in the story.
Its amazing how you keep these amazing posts coming consistently.
Loving it.
yeah..his passion knows no bounds..his energy,knowing that he comes from work and goes back to work..is commendable..i was worse than him when i started but i guess i was courageous to take a plunge, which is what i keep telling him..and he is very aggressive and not channelised..he needs to contain it sometimes..to say in Gajraj Rao’s words spoken just today..”yaar yeh kaartik kaun hai..bada passionate aadmi hai saala, sab yaad rehta hai isse, phir software mein kyon gaand marwa raha hai”..that should say it..he might make a mistake like we all do but he won’t be making a film that you can easily ignore..but it will all begin when he stops talking about it and start doing it..:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d
I was reading Abbas Tyrewala’s post about you taking a plunge while he kept dreaming and planning it all the while.
Seriously, taking the plunge can either fuck you or change your life.While I say this, I am sitting at a place where I ve been contemplating the same for last 2 years.I managed doing some short film n theatre work but thats not a big consolation if you have to come back to the feeling of not doing it full time(considering the kicks the creative work gives). PFC is just the right thing that happenend to me at this point in time. :)
Fear numbs! Thats the thing about fear because it comes out off thinking to much. It just overrides passion. The only solution is to stop thinking and take the plunge, get ready to accept the idea that you wont have a safety net when you jump, that you may drown, but hey WTF we only life once.
Being the only son and making a lot of money at rediff I was worried shitless about whether I should join now, or wait another 5 years cash my ESOPS etc etc. Finally I just let go and took the plunge. In hindsight if I didnt do it then, I would still be thinking about taking the plunge. SO JUMP KARTIK JUMP
AK, you rock as usual!
In the Comments section, good to see a lot of similar-thinking people and encouragement all around!
wow, Suparn, that almost reminds me of a quintessential Bollywood climax!
Bhaag Pooja Bhaaaag!!!
Jump Kartik Jump!!!!
Jaa Beti Jaaaa!!!
keep ‘em comin! :d
Kartik, seriously baap, ur in the same shoes as almost all of us are. Studying to code/already coding professionally, ranting about how it sucks and dreaming about our passion as to how someday we will do the thing that really interests us - make movies.
Now u have an opening infront of you and the above comments reiterate how you have it in you to make it happen.
Go for it bro, just do it.
life is all about making right decisions at the wrong time… kartik bhaiyya jab itne log tujhe kudne ko keh rahe hain toh tu kyu naiyya dhundh raha hai…samudra mein sab ki kismat hain.
cheers.
premal
It was so much fun on the sets last night! Highlight of the day was no doubt stand out performance by Gaju!!
It was a day when Vishal Bhardwaj and Piyush Mishra visited the sets! I saw Ranvir shorey in the film for the first time along with hot Europeans babes!
There was something special about the last night!
who is Gajraj Rao? :-?
pradeep - gajraj rao is a passionate actor who works for the passion of it. Did theater from mandi house and later moved onto films for the sake of his friends.
He’s a character actor and primarily an ad film maker.
Here’s an imdb
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0710549/
Bade star ho gaye ho bhai karthik…ab jab itni encouragement mil hi rahi hai to kood jao…gooda to hai hi tumme…aur g****** kisi ne nahi pakad nahin rakhi.
i think i better get used to saying this…
speechless @-)
- “Salaam-E-Ishq rocks”… I kind of had a good feeling about the movie… the promos have a powerful attraction factor to them…
Anurag, imdb has also credited u as writer for shaka laka boom boom. U n sunil darshan ?:-? :-” N if am not wrong SLBB is copy of Amadeus. Is it u only or some other anurag kashyap ? Sunil darshan n amadeus :-?:-w[-( Ye kya jagah hai dostoon….
- Rohit Jugraj started breaking glasses around you!!! Cine Fanatic or Ramu fanatic? Heard that he’s now upset with Ramu.
oz, err.. u didn’t hear about the fiasco between ramu and rohit post-”james”? :o
Anuraag yaar, yeh Karawalon ne q & A session bhi rakh diya hai yaar. Fuck man, filmmaking is so much easier and intersting public speaking… what the fuck will i do, sala bhagwaan hi jaane.
Anurag how many pages is your script? How long is the film? I have finally finished writing one… it’s all of 80 pages… just fear it’s too small for an indian film… screwed mentality is it?
“Salaam-E-Ishq rocks”… is it not a copy of love actually?
surya, welcome to PFC bheedu.. saala kitne din se bol raha hoon site pe aane ke liye.. fursat mil hi gayi tujhe? :-w
chalo, subah ka bhoola shaam ko ghar wapas aa jaye to use bhoola nahin kehte :) better late than never :)>-
Would it be possible for you to gives us a little look into the music - you know, like 30 seconds clip or it’s too soon for that?
Ayesha takia is a natural..oh yess!!! Finshed watching Socha Na Tha yesterday…damn i had wanted to see this for such a long time..especially after what i saw Imtiaz Ali could do with the script in Ahista Ahista….Ayesha was such a cutie…hope she gets in the league of kajol and Rani ASAP…Jugraj…breaking glasses over Ramu…lol!!!Now he might break glasses “ON” Ramu..
Awesome post agai Anurag bhai!!!
Beta Kartik…Jagja orrrei Jagja…
i think, Ayeshia is much better than Kajol and Rani Mukherji. You will see Kajol and Rani Mukherji going over the top, but you won’t see Ayeshia Takia do OTT. She has a on screen likable personality.
Awesome post Anurag!!!
One Q… Could Improvisation be the factor behind all classics ever made?
I know following a script is equally important and it saves you from extra burden put by improvisations. But again, how important is it?
check out all of seinfield scripts at
http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/
okie this is the first time i m commenting in AK’s blog…i m fuckin scared of commentin on ur blogs..but i hv been readin PFC blogs since ages..mebbe am jus intimidated by ur persona..afterall u r da guy wrote satya maaan..but now after lots of courage i hv to tell u this.. U RULE boss…is there any chance that i get invited to the sets now
:d:d:d
Have been lurking here for some time, Anurag :) -Waiting to see some scenes from the movie. Any updates on Black friday?
ISS striker ko RGV ke baarein mein bohot kuch pata hain lagta hain…
:-” mujhe? nahi nahi.. ho hi nahi sakta :-”
Hi Anurag,
After a lot of hesitation(mixed with panic and utter respect and with toppings of flabbergasted excitement)I am finally writing this to you; hope u read it.
First of all congratulations and thanks for making Black Friday. I saw it at PIFF. I am just waiting for its realease so that i can test the hypothesis: “Movies can change lives”
Now, i am a little bit scared; (but at the same time curious enough to overcome that fear) as i want to ask a question to you related to No Smoking, and Karthik’s recent blog has actuated me to be that audacious and ask you the question:
Is your “K” inspired from “K” of Kafka’s The Trial(Der Prozess)? or is it just a coincidence that both the protagonist’s names are K?
Orange .. between u and me … that is the reason … the Kafka influence is there .. ‘magic realism’ or whatever the kafka followers call it
Magical Realism….:-? but Kafka isnt in to magical realism…He is an existantialist…but yeah Metamorphosis or The Trial and The Castle do have a weirdo tinge…For ex:Gregor Samsa (the protagonist of Metamorphosis) turning in to a huge orthopod …anyways thanks karthik…
I am really excited about this film now…Kafka and Anurag Kashyap…KILLER COMBINATION
CHEERS ^:)^=d>=d>
i was waiting for someone to ask me that..yeah K is from Joseph K..the film is a dark comedy, thriller..very kafkaesque..
K also stands for Kaufman..another big influence on the film..
and K is for kashyap..ha ha..
no seriously..you are spot on..Kafka was my first big mindfuck..i read trial when i was nineteen..next six months of my life after that i read nothing but him..his letters,any and everything about him..
Hey Guys who is this Joseph Kafka? you people are talking about?
I know Franz Kafka of Prague. Adjective ” Kafkasque” is also associated with him.
Have any one read Hindi author Nirmal Verma? You would find interesting things if you like kafka.
its joseph K from..kafka’s trial..
i have read nirmal verma..he is not kafkaesque..only indian author i who falls somewhere between kafka and Gabriel garcia marquez is Vinod kumar shukl..he wrote..naukar ki kameez, deewar mein ek khidki rahti thi,khilega to dekhenge.. read them..he is more marquez than kafka..
guys i have got another film i wrote dialogues for in ROTTERDAM.. its shoonya..directed by my producer of black friday..
NJ darling..darling ad labs is releasing Black Friday..most probably on January 12th..thats all i know..
AK:
Congrats for Shoonya. May digits continuously increase before this shoonya and you deliver more and audience enjoy more:)
ah so finally we will be able to get our hands on Black Friday - hmm will UK see a release?
Black Friday: waiting for its release so that we can discuss this film. its long awaited task. Hope friday of its release come soon:)
Anurag:
read Garam coat and naukar ki kameez.will read more.
what abt Raag Darbari (Srilal Shukla)[ beuatifully serialised on DD with Om Puri and Manohar Singh in major roles) and Ram Nagri(Ram Nagarkar), adapted earlier in film with Amol Palekar in lead role?
“Black Friday: waiting for its release so that we can discuss this film. its long awaited task. Hope friday of its release come soon”
INSHAALLAH!!!
Anurag, is Shoonya the same film that has a score by Indian Ocean?
yes tushar
AK: So the soundtrack for Black Friday will get a mainstream release too, right? Or did I miss it already? That’s Indian Ocean too, right?
And Paanch? I heard one number WAAAY back and have been waiting for those tracks too!
Black Friday album was released. You can buy it on iTunes. Paanch soundtrack was also released, i think, but I could not find it when I went to India, this year. I want that album!!!!!!!
Fantastic news…Black Friday 12th Jan….awesome news…Hope it gets released in LA…
well m new 2 this site…nd this is my 1st post…
i hav been readin anurags blogs from past 2 days whenever i had time.. m an engineerin student from mumbai..nd want to pursue a career in filmmakin..
well enuf of introduction..
so i am a big fan of anurag nd ramu too…
anurag a question for u-
u told ramu can b back..well i dont think he has lost it… the only thing he is doing these days is that he is giving all his rubbish scripts to his assistants nd himself directin gud movies.. sarkar was awesome.. nd nishabd looks promising
cant say nethin abt sholay..dunno wat ramu will b doing wid it… it wud b his interpretation
wat say anurag.. i dont think ramu has lost nethin in direction…only in his production
well anurag one more question
no doubt u r an amazing writer cuz wen u write dialogues..the best part abt it dat they r natural.. its sumthin which v will actually say in dat particular situation not somethin high fundoo stuff… but sometimes many gud writers have 2 compromise on d subject or dialogues for money cuz after all u need money 2 survive..
so have u ever compromised on it nd wrote some stuff which u never wanted 2 write…
is fool n final is a compromise cuz d i din like d directors 1st muvie lakeer.. it was a really really bad muvie wid bad direction
fool and final is not me..it was miscredited to me..but yes i have many times compromised consciously..whenever i have worked for money i have compromised..i would rather have people judge me on what i do for myself..
But Ak,are you not doing Dharmesh Darshan’s next film? Or is it Suneel Darshan? That was the shock of my life!:o
cool!. anurag! lukin forward for ur dialogues in guru.. m sure it will b as gud as were in yuva… i dunno y yuva bombed it wasnt bad… hav u scripted guru..nd yes u havent answered ma 1st quetion abt ramu :-)…
Thanks anurag, and great to know that a person, who has read KAFKA and loves GABO, is Rocking in BOLLYWOOD….Great Days are here to come ….Lets start a New Wave in Bollywood (and this time no fuckin manupulation with that term )…BTW anurag…i am a great fan of Kafka and GABO, it will be great to see them through your eyes…
once again…art nouveau….!!!
desea la revolución viva
:)>-
On the subject of reading, every artist, struggler must read Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Letters to a poet’, each page worth its weight in gold
Well said suparn….
Rilke…is worth a lot more than gold or any quantifiable things…
:)
Hi Anurag
Very nice blog…it’s wonderful to read the experiences of a film maker who is breaking the conventional…my new short got selected in Kara,being screened on 17thdec…Omkara team too having the screening on 16th and 17th…i am broke to go there…can someone help me…
hey maneej congrats man….could you please elaborate about your short and the festival KARA???
Here’s news of a guy who dared to break away and make his own movie (from the infamous Mid-Day though). Watch for the Boomerang!
- His character is called AK… :o
my shot film is ‘who am i?…’it’s about a man’s journey into his conscience with nature,based on the same poem…check http://www.karafilmfest.com...
SAAFA’s very own raj vasudeva has acted in “boomerang”. here’s the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkY3W7uFhmI
personally the trailer doesn’t make any sense to me.. hopefully the movie itself is better :-”
maneej, congrats on getting into kara.. another friend of mine, surya, will be there screening his own short film “0:0PM”. try to meet up with him while you’re there.. he’s a nice guy.
@ Striker…How did the shoot go for your film?
OM, thanks for asking :) first day of shoot was kickass :D left work around 4pm yesterday in maryland to drive 2hrs to west virginia. got there an hour ahead of calltime which was at 7pm. we’re shooting on location at this really cool, old, run-down house in west virginia.. unfortunately we didn’t start til about 11pm due to the lead actress getting stuck in traffic and bad weather, but we only shot one scene last night, (which involved some fight choreography to be done right before), so we were able to wrap by 2am. stayed up til 3 watching the rushes, then got up bright n early at 9am and drove back 2hrs to go straight to work.. am yawning as i write this, but the satisfaction of an awesome shoot the night before is always worth it :D
its my first professional assignment and i am very proud to be associated with anurag, i could not have hoped for a better starting. as for my experiences with the shoot i had come prepared to follow directions but i was not given any .. hahahah…i had to change mode but it was fun …and i loved ever moment of it… i even tried a few things and anurag was ok with it .. its making me confident and bolder every shift.. and i like it .. make me think, match , time things which i always wanted to do
i just remember one instruction anurag had given me in teh beginning and i am following it totally by teh word
he said ” asay hee aa jaan .. dont prepare anything “. has helped me.. the nice thing being that it has helped me apply what i have learnt though i must admit my aim right now is only to relax during a shot so i can just listen to what teh other people are saying and feel impulses and follow them .. sounds easy but very difficult and all i am saying is that i am able to try such things in “no Smoking “. i love all teh ad’s who keep jumping around trying to guess what anurag would do next no one knows it except him. i guess all are pretty tight about continuity.. they literally take it to heart… i particularly like rohit when he said that my badge was slightly stooping .. i asked him how can i control my badge and he also told me how to do it … intersting .
I still have a few more days with them and I bet I will enjoy them like I am now .. good learning and I have grown confident at the end of it
Thanx to the team.
I’d like to ask if Directors might have several films (or more than one) in hand at a time? Not necessarily directing more than one film at a time, but looking at developing work from other scripts along side directing films?
I ask this because it’s directors who I would expect to see working with more foresight than actors.
Actors are sometimes known to work on a few projects at a time (although many prefer to work on one project at a time nowadays)
hi anurag
saw black friday recently and i thought the it was really good.the way you have taken out your story from the book by zaidi is just briliant.
congratulations!!!!!!!!
for the release of black friday on the 12th of jan. saw the pics from no smoking and i can say that the camera is going to take the audience for a roller coster ride.
Hey Striker,
Kara was mindblowing, actually maneej is a very dear friend of mine and he was supposed to come there, but unfortunately he d not make it. I have see his “who am i” and its really very good. Its his third independent venture… mindblowing… By the way i had great fun in karachi, planning on another short by Feb, march… its the first story of my feature ‘Anthology of the Dead’. Just trying to put certain things together, its one my most favourite stories… just wait and watch dude… by the way thanks… thanks for the compliment.
anurag sir, you seem to be very empathetic towards your actors. your posts suggest you are quite positive about them. this is a trait found in very few directors…..
Anurag… in Black friday…the camera pans to left at lucky petrol bunk and we see NO SMOKING written on the petrol station unit…
You know, it’s cigarettes that killed (Jerry) Garcia. Everyone thinks it’s heroin, but it wasn’t. It was cigarettes.
-John Mellencamp, 1996
Hey guys,
A friend of mine has directed a film along with Tirthankar Das.
Please view the trailer at the website
http://www.chaththefilm.com
Salam e ishq? Rocks?
Anurag,
I have been your admirer ever since I heard the backdrop of upcoming movie “Paanch” few years back and after “Black Friday” I was convinced you have, what it takes to take the industry in a new direction along with few other innovative directors on the block. Coming to “No Smoking” , no doubt it was movie beyond expectations and took sometime for me to digest. But, in the time when audience is just abt ready for “Rang De Basanti” and “Omkara”, “No Smoking” was way ahead of times. I mean choose the subjects that are close to your heart , but please make an attempt to treat them in a way that its little easy for mass audience and doesn’t seem like spoon feeding for class audience. I mean at the end of day you want your work to reach out everyone ..Wish you all the Happiness you truly deserve.