John has known Anurag since the time Anurag wrote his film, Water.
"Anurag phoned me one day and told me that he wanted to meet me for a script. He came over to my home in 15 minutes. He called his script Lapata. After the narration, he asked me how it was. I said it was horrible.
"Then he told me that he had another script in mind, called No Smoking. As soon as he finished, I agreed to do it. Then I asked him why he didn't narrate this script to me first. So Anurag said that he had made up the Lapata script on his way to my home, to see how I would react to that kind of film. He wanted to see my ideology as an actor. He was very happy when I said I hated that script because he knew I would love No Smoking," John grins.
So is No Smoking similar to any other film? John says no. "In fact, Anurag told me that he was inspired by Ram Gopal Varma's Darna Mana Hai -- the story featuring Boman Irani and Saif Ali Khan. But I haven't seen that film yet."
Also read: Fine films about filmmaking
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