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‘Devdas’ is one of the worst pieces of literature but sadly it is applicable to us. We are an emotional lot who wallow in self-pity

Today, Anurag is hopeful things will change. He recollects the time he wrote scripts and dialogues for other directors (a long list of films like Satya, Guru, Water, Shool among others) while hoping that he would himself make people sit up as a director. His film No Smoking, which releases today, has already done the mandatory rounds at international film festivals.

The film puts the spotlight on John Abraham. “There are many layers to the story. At the surface level, it is about John who cannot give up smoking. Scratch the surface and the film will reflect society. John is the epitome of an urban, successful man who is actually arrogant, selfish and has no regard for others. One day, he meets someone equally arrogant who shreds his arrogance into pieces,” narrates Anurag. He describes No Smoking as “a film that’s a lot of fun but not dark and morbid. The end is shocking.”

The idea came up nine years ago when Anurag was working with Ram Gopal Varma for Satya. “Ramu told me about a man who was unable to give up smoking. I found the idea interesting and worked on it,” recollects Anurag. The process had just begun. He considered Kay Kay Menon for the lead role. “But with Kay Kay, it would have been tough to raise money. Kay Kay and I go a long way. When I came to Mumbai, I learnt theatre from him. He understood that I needed someone with star appeal.”

The search for a star included an effort to rope in Shah Rukh Khan. “SRK liked the script; he was looking to do something different for the sake of his kids. But he felt the script was too dark for him and asked if I’d like to make some other film. I remained adamant. After eight months, I told him I had signed on John and he graciously returned the script.”

John came on board when Anurag and John worked on Water. “John, I found, wanted to do more as an actor. After Water, he had signed Kabul Express, Sridhar Raghavan’s Happy Birthday and Nagesh Kukunoor’s Aashayein. I knew this was the actor I was looking for,” says Anurag.

What’s in store? (Left) Anurag Kashyap and (above) John Abraham in a still from the film.

Once Vishal Bharadwaj and Kumar Mangat came forward to produce the film, things fell in place. Anurag recalls being unperturbed with the initial hiccups. “I couldn’t understand why people didn’t support Paanch and Black Friday but with No Smoking, I am sure people would be taken by surprise. It didn’t affect me when people said I was out of my mind. The film is ahead of its times and am glad I made it.”

He credits John Abraham for delivering his best performance till date. Anurag, having acted in theatre, says it helps him understand actors better. “After acting in plays I thought I’d shine in films too. On stage, I felt like a king and could take on anyone. But in cinema, I was camera shy and make for a bad actor. But because I know acting, I am damn good in dealing with actors.”

The change in fortunes, Anurag hopes, will continue. He has revived Gulal, and has written for Hanuman Returns. Then, he has Dev D, a UTV Spotboy Production that is a contemporary take on Devdas.

“Devdas is one of the worst pieces of literature but sadly it is applicable to us. We are an emotional lot who love to wallow in self-pity,” he says. The concept came from Abhay Deol, who also plays the lead role. “It would be interesting to see if Devdas goes in search of many Chandramukhis and if he keeps in touch with Paro through the Internet. This is going to be a hip, young film.” He laughs at the notion that he makes films that are out-of-the-box. “I think people will accept a well-made film.”

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