It's 2 'o clock at night , I'm tired sleepy and desperately want to go to sleep. But thanks to the official review of this movie on Indiafm I am forced to write this review. All I can say to the writer is that it's high time the movie critics grew up. The Indian film industry , which the reviewers are still ignorant enough to refer to as bollywood ,is growing up. And frankly speaking the press is just not being able to keep up with its pace.The last few years have seen movies like Life in a Metro , Black Friday , Swades , etc . All very different and very matured .
I haven't even checked the review of the other big release this week Jab We Met. But I'm willing to bet my ass off that it will yield rave reviews and millions of kudos from the reviewers.And why not . It has got 7/8 songs(with the bonus of remixes of course) , plenty of candyfloss romance and features no sequence which could, even in the wildest of imaginations, be uncomfortable to the orthodox audience. Well , Indiafm can keep praising the same junk standardised generalised crap which keeps repeating itself over and over and over again .But then again what can u expect from reviewers who can rate a movie like AAG highly . But as a movie buff and a fanatic of noir movies I have to vehemently protest.
Now , a few words about No Smoking.
Firstly , just cause the name says No Smoking why does the world starts believing it's an anti smoking movie. Its just a freaking name.And if you think that names of movies should justify or define its contents well here are a few examples for you....how about Trainspotting , or Clockwork Orange or American Beauty.None of these movies were about the lives of a railway worker, an orange colored clock or a beauty pageant.
No smoking is a visual trip through the dark alleys of the human mind . Its about the demons within you....the evils that form a part of your very soul and how it finally engulfs you so bad that to eradicate that evil you have to lose your soul. Its a Kubrickish effort where the director has formed a skeleton and then just went with the flow. Hats off to Anurag Kashyap for choosing a mundane topic and making it complicated and interesting .And not to mention , never selling out at even a single juncture .At no point in the movie did I feel that he had made any effort to make it appealing to the masses. Its just a rollercoaster ride in the lines of a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or a Sin City. Surreal , funny , bold and giving a damn at to people who won't like the movie . Its that attitude which makes No Smoking different from its peers.
The official review claims that what ails the film is that it is the most complicated cinematic experience of 2007.Damn Right it is !!! But that's why this movie is a winner all the way . The only correct sentence in the official review of No Smoking is "the film is like one big puzzle that refuses to get solved".And that is the beauty of this movie . That is exactly what puts it on a stack way above the mundane regular stuff.
Why do we get into this hangover of a movie with a well-defined beginning , a highrise before the intervals and finally a climax which puts everything in order. Why can't a movie roll on its own and keep loose ends hanging even after it has ended. Stanley Kubrick did it all the time. Show me one person who would claim to have interpreted correctly the last scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey.Does that make it a bad movie . Can any of the so-called critics stand up and deny its "masterpiece" status.
Although the real hero of this movie is its presentation but nevertheless , the cast of No Smoking renders a commendable effort. John Abraham has taken gigantic strides in acting and delivers a standout performance in a complicated role. Paresh Rawal , finally taking a break from running around in Priyadarshan movies , is excellent . Ayesha Takia is just there for the eye-candy factor. Ranvir Shorey is useless.The supporting cast is good , especially Paresh Rawal's sidekicks .The music is adequate and well executed. But the real winner is the cinematography . I have never seen such well-shot indoor sequences in a hindi movie.It appears straight out of Hollywood. The special effects are well placed and not over utilised .
One last word of advice to Indiafm. PLEASE GET SOME FRESH REVIEWERS , who don't judge films based on the set principles and guidelines mentioned in a bible given to them by the Institute called YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO IT , SO SCREW THE ONES WHO TRY