No Smoking is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language black comedy thriller film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, and produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars John Abraham, Ayesha Takia, Paresh Rawal and Ranvir Shorey. The first Stephen King Hindi film adaptation, it follows K (Abraham), a wealthy, proud, chain smoking businessman, who agrees to quit smoking to save his marriage, and visits a rehabilitation centre to assuage his wife (Takia) and childhood friend (Shorey), only to be caught up in a labyrinthine plot by Baba Bangali (Rawal), the all-knowing man running the centre, who guarantees that he will make him quit.
Combining story ideas from Ram Gopal Varma, Raj Singh Chaudhary and "Quitters, Inc.", Kashyap pitched the film to Abraham, who wanted to work with him, and Bhardwaj, who wanted to produce for him, both of whom accepted. Principal photography took place in Dharavi, Kutch, Bandra, Dongri, Mumbai, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Bhardwaj also composed the music, while the lyrics were written by Gulzar. The film's themes include freedom, privacy, surveillance and censorship.
No Smoking premiered at the Rome Film Festival on 24 October 2007, before its general release on 26 October. The film received negative reviews and bombed at the box-office, grossing against a budget of . However, at the 53rd Filmfare Awards, it received two nominations, and has since gained a cult following. Abraham has repeatedly expressed interest in a sequel.
Plot K, a confident, narcissistic and arrogant businessman in his 30s, is addicted to smoking. K's friends, Abbas and the doctor, offer to set up an appointment at a rehabilitation centre called Prayogshaala (), but K ignores their advice. His addiction strains his relationship with his wife Anjali. After K cannot make love to her without having to stop to light up a cigarette, she leaves him.
Wanting to save his marriage, K decides to check out Prayogshaala, and meets Shri Shri Prakash Guru Ghantal Baba Bangali Sealdah Wale there, the man running the rehabilitation centre. The method Prayogshaala uses to cure their patients is based on fear and psychological manipulation. Each time a patient gives in to their vice, Baba makes sure that they will be punished severely, which includes:
1. Almost killing one of his loved ones, by keeping them in a chamber full of all the cigarette smoke he has smoked in his entire life for five minutes, 2. Cutting off his finger, 3. Killing one of his loved ones, 4. Taking his soul.
K is forced to pay for his treatment by Baba and his disciples. Baba then tells K that he is free to leave, but he must abide by the rules or he will suffer the consequences. K tries to keep to the terms but fails twice, and is punished. He is now conscious about the third time.
After some time, K meets an old friend, Alex, who is now a Cuban cigar seller. At an event, K is forced to place a cigar in his mouth to appease Alex. Seconds later, he receives a phone call from the police, informing him that his wife is missing. He calls Baba, and is told that for smoking, his wife will be killed. He protests that he did not actually light the cigarette. Baba apologizes for the mistake, but says that it is too late. K asks Baba to tell the police about this, but the line is cut, and the phone number is non-existent upon re-dialing. K's protests are ignored and the police believe that he is delusional. Trying to make them believe, he seeks out Abbas, who had lost a finger, only to find that he has all of his fingers intact, with Abbas claiming to have no knowledge of Prayogshaala or Baba Bangali. Mocking him, the police forces K to smoke. Shortly afterwards, K gets a phone call about his brother committing suicide due to his chain-smoking. K raves angrily at the police and is thrown in jail, but is eventually bailed out.
K learns that Baba permits smoking during a period known as 'Zero Minute'. He attends such an event, where he lights up a cigarette. Suddenly, K wakes up in a remote Russian army base with a call from his wife, and she asks him why he believes she is dead. Confused, K escapes from the base by jumping into a lone bathtub in the snow . He ends up in a ragged room, from which he sees himself staring out from a hospital room. He also sees his wife and Baba. He calls out but no one can hear him, and he is told that it is because his body no longer hears his inner soul. The final punishment is complete.
K wakes up in his home, with Anjali sleeping beside him. When he goes to the bathroom, he finds out that he is missing two fingers. In a mid-credits scene, K, who has since gotten his finger back, is seen recommending Prayogshaala to a friend.
Cast
John Abraham as K: A wealthy, proud, chain-smoking businessman Ayesha Takia as Anjali: K's wife, who is fed up of his smoking Annie: K's secretary Paresh Rawal as Shri Shri Prakash Guru Ghantal Baba Bangali Sealdah Wale: An all-knowing, suspicious, rugged-looking specialist running a rehabilitation centre Ranvir Shorey as Abbas Tyrewala: K's friend since childhood Joy Fernandes as Alex: A friend of K Kiku Sharda as the doctor: A friend of K Jesse Randhawa as the dancer in the song "Jab Bhi" Gajraj Rao as R. K. Dhindra Rasika Duggal as Suzi Priyanka Bose as Sarah Shlok Sharma as an office employee Vikram Aditya Motwane as the employee who resigns Bipasha Basu as the dancer in the song "Phoonk De" Vasan Bala as a man at Alex's cigar launch party (uncredited) Anurag Kashyap as the man in the elevator (uncredited)
Production Development
During the making of Satya (1998), its director Ram Gopal Varma pitched a story to its writer Anurag Kashyap, about a chain smoker's encounter with someone who despises smoking. It inspired Kashyap to come up with an idea, which he shared with Varma, who in his turn laughed and dismissed it. Varma later incorporated his own idea of the story as a short segment, No Smoking starring Saif Ali Khan, in his anthology film, Darna Mana Hai (2003). Titling it Cigarette Smoking is Injurious to Health, Kashyap shared his idea with Boney Kapoor, which prompted him to remark "go back to the planet you came from!" Kay Kay Menon, the lead in Kashyap's unreleased Paanch (2003), liked the idea, but found it incomplete. During the shooting of Kashyap's Black Friday (2007), his assistant, Raj Singh Chaudhary, narrated him a different idea for a short film, in which he wanted Kashyap to act, about a chain smoker who wakes up without cigarettes and is unable to get any, because of a curfew. Kashyap agreed on the condition that Chaudhary allow him to combine both of their ideas. Kashyap's producer friends and acquaintances advised him to have a major actor back the idea. After he narrated it to Angad Paul, he suggested Shah Rukh Khan, but Kashyap wanted Menon, as he was interested in it. When Black Friday too couldn't find a release, and no one was ready to back his Gulaal, Kashyap started drinking heavily, and sank into depression. That's when Nivedita Bhattacharya, Menon's wife, told him to make the film by any means necessary, even if it means without Menon's involvement. Kashyap paid a visit to Khan, his college mate, who liked the idea, calling it "fantastic but dark," but advised Kashyap to stay from experimentation until later. Taking inspiration from Stephen King's "Quitters, Inc." (1978), Kashyap decided to take the story forward. As of October 2025, it remains the only King Hindi film adaptation. The film had a personal significance for him as after his first two directorial efforts Paanch and Black Friday went unreleased, people were telling him to "quit." He has stated that people advised him not to make the movie at all. When asked if Cat's Eye (1985), an American anthology horror film that adapted "Quitters, Inc." as one of its segments, was an inspiration, he replied that he hadn't watched it until after the script was complete. Remarking that the film has a universal subject, Kashyap further stated that he had to do a mainstream film. "People were getting wary of me, so it was time. And I needed a box-office hit." The film paid homage to Bob Fosse, a "chain-smoking director-choreographer who went to an early grave," by naming a nighclub after him.
In "Quitters, Inc.", after the chain-smoking protagonist Dick Morrison bumps into an old friend, their conversation leads Morrison to the titular facility in Manhattan. The story also features endless scrutiny, death threats and even a gas chamber. Both K and Morrison finds a patsy for the rehab at the end.
Kashyap began to approach actors through short messaging service; John Abraham replied back, because Deepa Mehta, the director of his Oscar-nominated Water (2005), for which Kashyap penned the dialogues, told him that he must work with Kashyap. Thinking that Abraham would not be able to understand the idea, and afraid of throwing away the chance, he narrated him an idea which he came up on his way to Abraham's residence in a rickshaw, titled Lapata (), about a "bad actor", since Kashyap was told that Abraham wasn't a good actor. Abraham told him that he expected something more intelligent from Kashyap, seeing that people already regard him as a bad actor. Kashyap then told him about No Smoking, which the actor ended up loving. Lapata later formed the basis for Kashyap's Ugly (2013). Kashyap claimed that Abraham was trying to rediscover himself; that is what propelled him to accept the film, alongside Kabul Express (2006), Taxi No. 9211 (2006), Goal (2007), Aashayein (2010) and Water. Abraham provided Kashyap financial assistance and told him to finalise the script, which he did when he flew to the US. Since, the film didn't had a producer, Abraham reached out to UTV, but they passed on the project, terming it "too weird." After directing Omkara (2006), Vishal Bhardwaj approached Kashyap when he came back to India, wanting to make a film with him. Kashyap told him about No Smoking, and Bhardwaj agreed to work with him. Bhardwaj ended up collaborating with Kumar Mangat Pathak as producer of the film, who came on board after hearing a narration, with Big Screen Entertainment and Vishal Bhardwaj Films as production companies. Mangat Pathak put forward Ali Khan for the lead, who worked with him in Omkara, but Kashyap declined the suggestion.
Pre-production For the dual role of Anjali and Annie, "one a self-respecting woman, another opposite", Kashyap went to actresses he thought could do the role, but they refused as the role was not substantial enough. Ultimately, Ayesha Takia was cast. She was not comfortable with the love scenes and the outfits of her character Annie, though Kashyap refused to make any changes. Despite this, he maintained that she was an "actress" and a "face" too.
Originally, Rajkumar Santoshi was to play the doctor, and Abbas Tyrewala was to play Abbas, that is why Kashyap named the character after him. However, Tyrewala later opted out and the role was given to Ranvir Shorey instead. During a scene, a character says, "Salaam Namaste, MBBS," referencing Tyrewala's films. Furthermore, erroneous reports surfaced that Ali Khan would appear in a cameo, on the request of Mangat Pathak. It was also reported that Bipasha Basu would appear in an item number. When asked what made Kashyap appear in the film, he replied, "only vanity." Kashyap cast well-known actors in the hope of having the film released; he thought that casting "unknown but brilliant" actors had made his prior films unreleased.
Abhishek Pathak, Mangat Pathak's son, served as the first assistant director of the film, while the costumes were designed by Anna Singh. Ashley Lobo joined the film as the choreographer, Tariq Umar Khan was the art director, while Wasiq Khan came on as the production designer for the film.
Filming