No Smoking Uncovered

I watched the movie two times. Like most other people, my first reaction to the movie was - "What?"

But in the second time I realised Anurag Kashyap is on a totally different level than the Indian audience. And this post is dedicated to him.

No Smoking is a mystery, a movie open to interpretations of all sorts. Here I present mine, a very specific one. This is not a review; this is an interpretation of the movie. I assume that you have already seen the movie.

Warning : This article contains tons of spoilers! Do not read if you have not watched the movie. It won't make any sense to you if you haven't watched the movie. And if you watch the movie after reading this, you won't have any fun.

First things first, this movie is not about how smoking can be injurious to health, or why you should quit smoking. It is about lusts in life, how freedom of choice is curbed, and how you pay for your sins. The climax is, in my opinion, pessimistic. This may upset some of the general Indian crowd (used to watch Karan Johar crap).

K's Siberian Dream - Not a dream, actually a vision. K is fed up with life, the only two things he is hanging on to is cigarettes and his own life. He wishes to escape from his current surroundings, so his soul takes him away. But even in such a remote place, K cannot leave his only lust in life - smoking. It signifies his longing, his desire to be free from the nagging and pressures of the society.

The Bathtub - Everybody has a portal for the movement of their ideas, their souls. K's portal is his bathtub. It is his relaxing place, and when he is in his bathtub, he ponders upon his life and usually ends up dreaming. His bathtub serves as a gateway to his soul's escape, and hence the bathtub is present in his dream too, in Siberia.

Baba Bangali - He is the incarnation of God on Earth. By using various unique methods, his only wish is to free people of their lusts, and to purify their souls. He can go to any extent, without any respect for people's personal choice or freedom. He can be seen as God's Big Brother on Earth.

1 Rupee in Cash - It tells us how we tend to neglect small things, and do not pay attention to things which are not of much value. The 1 rupee was a fee to save K's soul, his soul could use the 1 rupee to reach to his body, and escape the punishment. In a way, it is a way of showing that small things can purify your soul of all your sins.

The Carpet - The Carpet is not a tracking device! For heaven's sake! It was just the carpet that cost K 21 lakh rupees. The Prayogshala was masked as Kolkatta Karpets.

Anjali/Annie - Another way of escaping. Anjali is K's wife, in reality (if K is assumed to be real, that is). Anjali is a nagger, another person who wants to curb K's freedom, wants him to quit smoking. She uses all the weapons she can to get him to quit smoking - blackmail, emotional drama, insulting him and hurting his ego. All this makes him imagine Annie, who looks exactly like his wife, but is a sweet and understanding person, and most importantly - She does not want K to quit smoking. K's brain is so stressed out, he doesn't seem to notice that Annie and Anjali have the same face.

Cigarette Shastra - Sent by Baba Bangali, it is a rule book, a Bible or any holy book you want to call it. The most interesting part is the zero minute. It was put there to tempt the people (under the programme) to sin, reinforcing the idea that it is God's creations which force you to sin, and it is God who punishes you for sinning.

Soul Bath - When you have sinned, your soul becomes polluted, so it has to be 'cleaned'. Remember Baba saying, "Aatma hai to shareer ishwar hai, aatma nahi to nashwar hai.....Agar mann kamzor hai to aatma ko jhaad phoonk kar mukt karna padta hai"? This was what he meant. K failed to recognise and rectify his sins, so his soul was separated from his body, to be punished and purified. The bath was to cleanse his soul.


I wouldn't say that the movie was theist, but it definitely fuels the idea of existence of an all powerful being, existence of rules, sinning and punishment, hell.


From Anurag Kashyap's blog -

K’s arrogance is the obvious arrogance, that everyone sees everyday.. he smokes..he breathes nicotine.. he says no one tells me what to do.. i breathe cinema.. and forever everyone has been telling me not to make the kind of cinema i do.. NO SMOKING is a tale of an arrogant man and another who is much more arrogant, who lives in his world, where he controls everything and he thinks he is morally superior to anyexisting Homo sapiens, he is the kind of man who thrives on minorities and underpriveleged, he worships the dictatorian attitude and all he wants from you is to lose your soul and convert….it,s a tale about an arrogant man’s descent into morality.. and the architecture of the moral world is so absurd that it sometimes beats reality.. what happens in the film is a parallel to what happens in the real world..