Anurag Kashyap is a critically acclaimed Indian film director and screenwriter. Recently, the ace filmmaker Anurag Kashyap opened up about working with John Abraham. For those unaware, the filmmaker got an idea of making a film while travelling in a rickshaw on the way to meet John.
Anurag Kashyap
is a critically acclaimed
Indian film director
and screenwriter. Recently, the ace filmmaker Anurag Kashyap opened up about working with
John Abraham
. For those unaware, the filmmaker got an idea of making a film while travelling in a
rickshaw
on the way to meet John.
During his conversation with the Indian Express, Anurag Kashyap recounted the origins of his film
No Smoking
, revealing that the concept revolved around a self-obsessed, narcissistic chain smoker who decides to quit smoking to save his marriage.
The filmmaker explained that the idea was inspired by his own life experiences, as those around him were urging him to consider quitting filmmaking due to the challenges his movies faced in getting released.
Anurag added that after ‘Black Friday’ was banned and
Vishal Bhardwaj
had success with ‘Omkara’, Bhardwaj called him and said, ‘See, Omkara has worked, I can produce a film. Do you have a script?’ At that time, he had No Smoking! John Abraham contacted him because of their previous work on Water, and Deepa Mehta had recommended that he collaborate with Anurag. Anurag was in a desperate state, having no money at the time. He was in a rickshaw and informed John that he was on his way to meet him immediately.
The filmmaker shared that it was on his way to John’s residence that he began considering a new idea for himself. He explained that the story of No Smoking was already on his mind because it paralleled his life, so he was working on it. However, he wondered who would be willing to do this film. He recounted being in a rickshaw on his way to meet John Abraham, noting that people didn’t consider him a good actor at the time.
The filmmaker recalled how he narrated the idea of ‘No Smoking’ to John, and to his surprise, the actor really liked it. He mentioned that John took a chance on him, saying, “Let’s do this,” despite the entire story being in his head and not on paper. John then provided him with the funds, instructing him to go and write it. He added that he took a flight to the US and wrote ‘No Smoking’ and ‘Return of Hanuman’ there.
Upon returning to India, Vishal Bhardwaj also expressed interest in producing a film, and Anurag Kashyap presented No Smoking to him. The film, originally conceptualized during that rickshaw ride to meet John Abraham, centred around a failed actor and later evolved into ‘Ugly’ in 2013.
