Just got back from watching the movie and googled hastily to check if I was the only one who liked it....coz my friends thought it was absurd(right, the word's abstract)...and they couldn't 'understand' it! the second half sagged a bit; to the point that i was starting to feel that it was getting to be a bad attempt until the last scene of the movie...kinda put it back on track. Yeah, couple of folks did applaud at that point in the hall...bottomline; finally, someone cracked it!

if there's a bravery award it should go to vishal bharadwaj who decided to produce this mess of a movie and stood there while anurag kashyap so smug and overconfident of his talent ran amok with his cryptic and incomprehensible execution of this plot with utter disregard for his audience . each scene especially in the second half unfolds as if anurag was trying to show off how intelligent he is to us unintelligent life forms .

The basic plot idea could have made a decent short film , which it did as one of the segments in Darna mana hai,but to make it in to an engaging full length feature would have been a challenge to anyone and anurag with his over-indulgence and in his goal to delivering something "different"messes it up completely.

agreed on technical credits all top class .

anurag needs to get a grip on himself else this talented guy will lose it like his mentor RGV.

if this is "intelligent" cinema , god save us ! . i will prefer the average bollywood potboiler over this any day

Thank Goodness, there are at least a few people who liked this movie! I thought I was the only one who thought that the movie was interesting and made an excellent use of metaphors. Ofcourse, not everyone's cup of tea, especially when one goes in expecting some typical bollywood masala film. Hope the scathing reviews don’t stop film makers like Kashayap from making more experimental movie like this.

I've written this on PFC and I'm pasting it here again
I think the discussion on the movie needs to begin again when we’ve all seen it the second time. This is a film which will grow on you after repeated viewing …at least in me, there’s a strong urge to watch it the second time, stronger than the one I had it to see it the first time. The entire experience was so intoxicating that I felt like being on a high after a joint or two (even when I’m a non-smoker) and thus don’t remember what happened. Yes, it actually felt like I was being intoxicated….and I’m not yet come out of the hangover. I’m definitely gonna watch it again soon…feel like I’m getting an addiction, ironically for something which says “No Smoking”.

Arvind, thank you so much for pointing it out. I do take copyright and trademarks very seriously. Trademark to the phrase "Two Thumbs Up" is most certainly owned by Ebert and the estate of Sieskel. This was done to avoid misrepresentation by movie-makers. However, the terms "Thumbs Up" and "Thumbs Down" are not trademarked. Reference article

I really appreciate your concern. And good to hear from you again.

terrific. i am satisfied with the answer. thank you for clarifying.
i'll be back(not copyrighted by Arnold Schwarzenegger).

wow Puneet! I was wondering, that though the movie is not about 'smoking' or 'no smoking', how smokers would react to it. Thanks for providing your take.

Well, you should consider watching it alone, if you don't find company.

Thanks for sharing your reaction.

"No Smoking" is stunning!!! What "K" comes to in the end - an "empty" man without a soul, perhaps more content/at peace because he has given up his individuality, his ego - is that not what we as a society have become nowadays? So insensitive to everything, so willing to accept society's dictates, so willing to compromise on everything. Anurag Kashyap has given us a dark and sombre puzzle to ponder on. What a pity that everyone is tearing him apart for making a film they could not understand - have they ever bothered to stop and analyze what the film maker was trying to say? The last ten inutes of the film are the most haunting, tragic, and disturbing - sadly, this was the part where most people were giggling and asking what the hell was going on! John Abraham was superb in the film - so convincing, the anguish is his eyes when his "soul" is being "washed"/going up in smoke is heart-wrenching.

A most self indulgent film; wish I had that budget and backers, to show of the "intellectual prowess" of Mr. Kashyap. Well executed, but a story line if at all it can be called that, which could have been dealt with in 45 minutes or so.
But then Mr. Kashyap is not interested in a linear narrative, but instead gives us a tortuous journey through the labyrinth of K's mind as he descends into his unconscious and visits his personal hells.
Yes, we have read Kafka too, so the feeling of having lost it all and complete bewilderment as things happen to K, who is in that sense not an individual but a cipher who is shunted from room to room without any comprehension. But how does the bureaucratic control metaphor of Kafka tie in with the film at large?
No ideas yet.
So we have the all seeing Eye, the Gaze, we have the complete disconnect of K from all human emotions barring that of arrogance and having his own way, and we have loops of his worst fears playing out along the way, as he strives to connect.
Any interpretation is possible, as Mr. Kashyap gives us images and not really a story. But the quality of images is fair but sometimes looks very put on as in that Siberia sequence and then we have all the in jokes about Castro, Cigars, Beedis, and Bob Fosse et al.
Is he paying tribute to them or spoofing others as in the bathroom smoking sequence?
The images are nowhere near that of The Mirror or The Stalker which both talk of metaphorical journeys which make one meditate and contemplate on the fragmented nature of existence and the larger questions that always remain unanswered.
The film is eminently watchable thanks to the camerawork and the background score , but fails to connect to the audience in terms of addressing existential themes which would reasonate.
Yeah, so K struggles, so what? What of us?

Movie's reviews are tangled between critics and compliments.....I guess movie must be logical if watched with full attention.

[...] http://withoutgivingthemovieaway.com/main/reviews/review-no-smoking/ [...]

Hi TinuAnand, sorry to disappoint you. I might consider having a qualification for the rating. The issue is, that I am not a big fan of conditional opinion. I think an opinion is an opinion. I feel, saying something like - Must watch "if" you have a taste for artistic movies - copping out or cheating your readers.

Nevertheless, you might soon see a qualifier along with the rating, when required.

Here is my own interpretation of the movie, and some common things which people couldn't get, cleared up.

http://apoorvkhatreja.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-smoking-uncovered.html

I like the Apoorv's interpretation....that clears off the most doubts .... plz read it...u would get the feel of the movie....i...this kind of movie is an experiment of its own kind..people might see it as half cup full or half empty..diff. perspectives...it is alltogether a different paradigm movie...it could have been a bit more clearer from anurag's presentation part ,for people to atleast get the grasp of the happenings..may be small hints...not only indian audience...this movie would be difficult to interpret even for the interntional audience... ...we can tag it as a shit or a a futuristic movie making shown in present day commercial stream..whatever it is....Kudos to anurag for taking such a daring step even without caring for the reviews which he would get after the release...i know anurag would have surely known he would get these kinda reviews, and still made a movie which HE felt like making...DAREDEVIL Anurag !!!!

anurag had picturised a marvellous story(beat hollywood!!!) with some kind of confusion which may not reach normal"masala lovers"!.But people like me,i am sure,would have definitely enjoyed it.I wont critisice it,but say frankly,that at some place in the movie,i really felt miserable.How's the mechanical finger going in?How could paresh have the video of all the smokers?.But apart from these, i loved the screenplay,cinematography,background score and etc.Please... Anurag dont stop making films like these...people like me really need films like this kind..carry on...duniya to kehti hi rahti hai...

@mainak, meetu is on vacation until Monday. Hopefully she will reply in a day or two after she comes back.

@ mainak, one has to understand and accept one's limitations. I don't understand the psychoanalysis parts completely and would be lost if I had to counter-argue...thus stayed silent on that aspect.

movie ahead of its time -- psuedo philoshophical people interpreted the directors vision with his character with heavily accented psuedo intellectual words is not even worth reading.. immature reviews from prejudiced people.. they needed attention by cribbing about a genuine , metaphorical attempt is to be applauded ,,commended..
A GR8 MOVIE ,,

It was an interesting movie, though confusing few times in the movie, I was wondering what is going on. It makes you think though that if this method is really adopted to get smokers to quit, will it work? Fear factor might.
I can usually watch any movie with John in it, but he has shown great improvement in his acting over his past movies.

i saw it today
n i pity myself for not watching it in a theatre

the man is brave
he can do wonders 2 indian cinema

we need more anurag kashyap's

the way the director implicates his metaphors here are just beyond the conventional hindi stuff.
i remember one metaphor of his(the director)that the plots the k is to be shown at his bathtub,normally having the rest,but the moment he gets himself drowned in the thing,i mean the moment he gets underwater,his previously conscious mind gets to it's sub-conscious state and the moment it's back from it,k goes normal,distraught with what he did he see "there"