No Smoking (2007 film)

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 film follows K (Abraham), a self-obsessed, narcissist chain smoker who agrees to quit smoking to save his marriage and visits a rehabilitation centre to assuage his wife (Takia) and friend (Shorey), only to be caught up in a labyrinthine plot by Baba Bangali (Rawal), the man who guarantees that he will make him quit by any means necessary.

Taking inspiration from Stephen King's "Quitters, Inc.", Kashyap pitched the idea to Bhardwaj, who wanted to produce for him, and Abraham, who wanted to work with him, both of whom accepted, and the rest of the cast followed. Principal photography took place in Dharavi, 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 politico-religious methods of autocratic figures to suppress people's rights.

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 ₹3.49 crore (equivalent to ₹11 crore or US$1.2 million in 2023) against a budget of ₹7.50 crore (equivalent to ₹23 crore or US$2.7 million in 2023). It has since gained a cult following. Abraham has repeatedly expressed interest in a sequel.