It so happened that the movie that is being soundly thrashed now had created quite a few ripples with its promos that had left almost everyone zapped. It was supposed to be John Abraham’s ‘performance of his career’ and a movie that would jolt many smoking addicts out of their web of complacency and cloud of smoke. But as it has turned out, if there has ever been a totally ineffective campaign against smoking then it has to be this. No Smoking released last Friday and seems to have gone up in smoke. The interest in the movie did not hold on for any longer than the cloud of smoke that lingers momentarily when the blissful smoker puffs it out from his lungs and along with it a few seconds of his life.

That apart, the movie did get noticed. Not for its ‘amazing’ story line or ‘stunning’ performances, but for the fact that hardly anyone who has seen the movie has been able to understand what the director wants to convey. Everything seems so muddled up that no one is able to get the import of the movie and the result is that this No Smoking campaign is being touted to end up as a bigger disaster than Aag- yes Ramgopal Verma Ki Aag.

Yes, worse than Aag- but we thought that nothing could get worse than Aag. But Anurag Kashyap seems to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat with No Smoking. The opening was anything but encouraging which was not much of a surprise since the movie was not the routine entertainer but the slide that it took right from the first show was the killer blow. Films such as these rely entirely on word of mouth and when the handful of people who have watched it walk out of theaters wondering what on earth they had witnessed over two hours- its game over.

Neither the ‘still attention grabbing’ promos nor the public outburst of the director against critics who chose to trash his movie have helped the collections in any way. And, Jab We Met- the movie that released along with No Smoking is busy making the most of the free run before Diwali heralds the biggies.