No Smoking Script – First Thoughts
No Smoking Script First Thoughts
(Pls pardon for the long break .. was terribly busy catching work in office when not catching on my sleep. As I bonus I’m writing another juicy post soon.
Additionally, call it ironic, this article has been toned down and censored. Meaning I would’ve loved to talk/write more. But I’m afraid Anurag might not like that. Hope you guys understand that.)
Thursday Evening Worli (Yeah Manjit u were absent on this day… thanks to a cold)
It was the last day of the shoot in the 31st floored house of John-Ayesha. I came in late (was coming from office – far away) and entered the lift along with Sumit Saxena. We entered the lift and saw John entering in with his costume designer and makeup man and bodyguards(how can I forget them). He was a few hours late. “Next I’m gonna say NO to any interviews during the shooting days”.Realising he was late and that the lift would take its time to reach the 31st floor… he STARTED CHANGING IN THE LIFT ITSELF !! He said to us (and a few other crew members)who were left astounded – “Us taraf dekho” .. Girls Sorry I don’t have any pics .. .and John you can be happy there’s no new MMS Scandal hitting the town !!!
Anyways met him ‘officially’ as Anurag introduced us as the ‘team from PFC’. John was very keen on the coverage of No Smoking and the buzz on the site wrt the film. We said “the response to No Smoking posts is amazing.. You are among the most discussed actors” I added, although a bit sheepishly,” Now that you’ve joined Anurag and are standing by him … we respect you a lot as a person”. I didnt wanna flatter him or anything.. but the guy has the guts to stand up for a man who has been kicked a lot many times by the industry and the indian government. I earnestly respect him a lot post No Smoking.
I was in the AC Cabin while shooting was going on. Sumit got selected TO DO DUBBING FOR A CHARACTER IN THE FILM. THE CHARACTER NEEDED WAS THAT OF A UP-BHAYYA ACCENT I SUPPOSE. That’s why Sumit goddamn got it. Grrr… I wanted to do the dubbing to. On second thoughts I want to sing in the film. Will get to meet Vishaal and Gulzaar that way …
Me and Sumit were seated and looking at the pics of No Smoking. They are WOW !! there is an intresting play of Light and Shade (typical of many Dark films with humor). That is not to say that the film is a black comedy (Jaane Bhi do yaaron … Pushpak). Coming back to the pics.. I saw a lot of mirror shots in the promotional pics. Anurag said that they have been used to emphasise on the double facedness and the reflection. (I know what he is saying now… You will too when you see the film). The pics have been shot by a Bong named Toto (whose Dad has been photographing for some of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak’s films) He has done a great job. Sadly i can’t post them since there is a PR contract. Anurag if you are reading this post… is there any way we can post those pics on PFC ???
Anurag walked in TAKING A BREAK. “WOULD YOU GUYS LIKE TO READ THE SCRIPT OF NO SMOKING ??” Me and Sumit jumped at the offer … “None of it should go to PFC though !!” I said “Dnt worry .. In typical IT manner – I agree to all agreements and licenses … JUST GIMMETHE GODDAMN SCRIPT TO READ !!! “ We were given two copies and started off… blissfully unaware of John and Ayesha in the next room … “Remain Oblivious” - was what Anurag’s T Shirt said. (There’s also a wonderfuly gossip on the subject of DVD’s … but sadly can’t disclose it either… Anurag will kill me !!)
My first impression of the script without giveing away anything … After the first reading …my brain was trying to grasp and understand it again… Clearly there were chunks which i did not understand…as they say in hindi -‘merey rongtey khade ho gaye’. This is not a DVD remake of any film. But influence of Anurag’s one of the favorite authors/writers – Franz Kafka is palpable. ‘Magic Realism’ my company receptionist tells me …also a big Kafka fan.
Sumit was more clueless than me .. despite being well read of 800 odd theater plays. I must say that most of the dialogues /lines were good and quirky. I almost however felt the tag line of Lolita – “How could they ever make a movie like No Smoking ??” Anurag’s response too was typical. “Either this film is gonna be a big hit or I’m gonna be thrown out of India !!! ”
I went upto him and discussed some aspects of the script. He was smiling throughout at my bewilderment. I mean I was trying to look ‘deeper into it for logic’ but was failing despite re-readings. I categorically told him .. “boss what is the reason for this and that etc etch “. He laughed and said “you are looking for logic.” Now I clearly know the difference between David Dhawan and Anurag kashyap and hence I do know the difference between ‘cinematic liberty’ – ‘willing suspension of disbelief‘ and the ‘there must be some logic in this’ -manirathnam/vishaal films.
He – “There is no logic in those portions…”
Me – “There must be logic in those portions”
He – “Do you want to read the script again ??”
Me – “Hell I want to see the film right here right now !!”
He smiled like a child.
Then anurag said something which pretty much explains his logic.
“If your girlfriend leaves you saying she is ditching you because according to her you are possessive/selfish/ dirty/ penniless/ stuipid/ boring /too serious/ bad sense of humor etc etc (most of which go for me) ….you will think about her couple of days/weeks/may be even months. But soon you will be over her.
The beauty is if she ditches you without telling you why she is leaving you. You will then be mentally screwed for the rest of your life wondering.. What was the reason she left me. What was the logic beind such an action of hers ?? Why did she do this ??? You will be thinking about this throughout and won’t ever forget her.”
I completely agreed with him … and as much as the comments seem out of place… I could sense what Anurag was trying to do. Hell, I’ve had experience with the first part and the second part too !! I know what Anurag is talking about.. And what he wants… Before I give away any spoilers (guys please don’t ask me any questions… I cannot answer anything else …If you have any questions.. post them as comments and perhaps if you are lucky, Anurag may answer them !!!) lemme move on… and wait till May 07 – when the movie will be recieved.
Anyways after the discussion … Ayesha’s scene … which will be the start of a song.. the goddamn friggin word ‘pack up’ was announced.
We climbed down the stairs of 31st floor (coz sumit wasnt feeling well) and after reaching the ground floor saw Anurag coming out of the make-up/vanity van of John along with Vivek Agnihotri. Apparently they were discussing about the next film Goal – whose dialogues have been written by Anurag and stars John.
John and Vivek left … and Anurag came upto us – “Guys I’m feeling nostalgic ..Today is the last day of shoot in this house. Who all were there with me in black friday ??”
Few hands went up … Anurag said “Today we will open one of the two bottles of the champagne which has been kept close to celebrate the release of black friday.” Almost everyone rejected the idea.. Those bottles have special and sentimental value for the crew members of Black friday and they will be opened soon !!! But not tonight !!!
Anurag relented and we went to his house to celebrate the day. Drinks and smokes and Jazz music was there. It was good to see the crew members pulling each others’ legs, apart from just AD Raajkumar’s – whose lust for lust is now legendary (hehehe kill me if you want Raajkumar).
Soon there was a request (by me I concede) to listen to Tamas – the song from Paanch. Immideately Paanch’s VCD was put on .. and we saw a portion of the film. We saw Tamas ..and realised how ‘drug – addicting – rock -dope’ the song it is … The song is so good and the visuals do great justice to it. Then we started seeing the film from start and saw uptill the ‘Khuda hoon main’ Song. Brilliantly explosive !!!
The crew members realising perhaps it was too late, went and Me and Sumit stayed back. We had a heart to heart talk about most of the cinema personalities of India (ehm ehm) and it was great to see Anurag in such a frank mood. The sad part was… that the night had to end. I wish I could go on and on discussing cinema with Anurag !!!
Encore Anurag Encore !!!!
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
Marvellous!!!!!!! KK on AK:):)
- RK, Wait till Kartik tells writes on how he and Sumit met Kay Kay Menon (the “KK”) on the steps of Prithvi last weekend… till then I’m gonna keep my mouth shut ;)
Oz:
KK and Sumeet meets KK!!!! What else is going to come out from womb of NO SMOKING? Can he (KK Menon) come on PFC whenever he gets few minutes?
Fantastic Post Kartik….You have an amazing quality in your writing where the visualization becomes so crystal clear…your writings have a very vivid imagery attached to it. I loved it. Saale Anurag ke saath daaru pee? Mein tujhse nafrat kartha hoon…Lol!!!!
speechless @-)
Oz and RK : There was hardly worth anything with KK Menon. We just ran into him at Prithvi theater and approached him introducing us… and about PFC-Anurag.
I asked him if he would write for PFC
“I am completely computer Illiterate” – was his reaction :-(
OM and Striker : Yeah Anurag key saath Daroo pee… Trust me never before have I had such a memorable conversation over drinks. There were no masks… no airs .. no inhibitations … no awkwardness… That man put us completely at ease… plain heart to heart talk !!!
Karthik sir, plz give the lesser mortals some more write up on Paanch, dying to see it,
koi pirated copy jugaad kar sakte ho kya?
kaafir .. Even I’m a lesser mortal :-)
Im not sure if i can arrange for a pirated copy coz i myself havent seen the film. I just saw like 15 mins of the film including the credit sequence. The film looks explosive !!!
Paanch may release soon …
KK: How does AK’s script look? Meaning does he write Hollywood style character/dialogue/atmosphere/camera angles etc or is it single line scenes and dialogues written on the spot? I remember AK mentioning here that his script isn’t ready a couple of days before the shoot began, what is the position now? Did u get any idea how the final product will look after reading?
Bombarding u with question just to know how the Master works on the Writing Dept. :d
Gattu … Thanks .. finally someone asked me this question LOL ….
No there are no camera angles (dolly to.., focus on.. , tracking shot etc etc, POV) No nothing like that. In that sense AK the writer is more prominent on paper than AK the director.
The format is like
Int Place, Time
Character X
blah blah blah …
Character Y
blah blah blah …
Y looks at X … not knowing what to say. He opens his mouth but X dissuades him with a brush of hands.
This is just an eg Gattu. The dialogues are in hindi but they are written in the english script.. meaning like -
” Tareekh par tareekh Tareekh par tareekh Tareekh par tareekh milti aayi hai par insaaf nahi mila hai”
The shot taking, costume, camera angles everything else is decided on location.
Hope this answers your question
KK: U made my day \:d/ No Net connection in office :( So the delay in replying.
One request to OZ. Please tell AK to put his script here after the film is released
As an afterthought, if AK can put parts of ‘Paanch’s script & even Satya’s here.
That will be heavan on PFC:-”
^:)^KK