No Smoking

No Smoking is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language thriller film[2] written and directed by Anurag Kashyap and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and Kumar Mangat. The film stars John Abraham, Ayesha Takia, Ranvir Shorey and Paresh Rawal in the lead roles, while Bipasha Basu appears in an Item number.[3] The film is loosely based upon the 1978 short story "Quitters, Inc." by Stephen King, which was previously adapted as one of three segments featured in Hollywood anthology film, Cat's Eye (1985). It became the second Indian film after Julie Ganapathi and first Hindi-language film to be adapted from a Stephen King's work.[4] The story follows K (Abraham), a self-obsessed, narcissist chain smoker who agrees to kick his habit to save his marriage and visits a rehabilitation centre, but is caught in a labyrinth game by Baba Bengali (Rawal), the man who guarantees he will make him quit.[5][6]

The film released worldwide on 26 October 2007, but was met with a lukewarm response from Indian critics and mixed response from overseas critics.[7][8] The film did not perform well at the box office either, becoming one of the major disasters of the year.[9] According to Kashyap, the film failed because, it was considered much ahead of its time, courtesy of its dark and unusual storyline comprising with elements of surrealism, fantasy, dream, reality,[10] horror and dark humour which left critics and the cinema-goers baffled, this was frowned upon by Indian audiences, as it was unconventional, pretentious and they had never seen anything like it.[11] But in later years, the film received positive reviews and has become a cult film.

No Smoking was nominated at several award ceremonies in 2008, primarily for the technical aspects of the film, including three Filmfare Award nominations. Before a full cinematic release in India, the film was invited to be screened at the Rome Film Festival where it won huge appreciation from the audience and critics alike.[7][12] In 2011, the film was played at several film festivals in India and China, receiving unanimous applause and praise, as well as winning a number of awards.[13]