Disclaimer: Smoking is injurious to health and in no way this post aims at promoting cigarettes. Smoking kills.
The above disclaimer holds true for both a man as well as a woman. The movie NH10 used this concept really well. Lot of times we see shots of cigarettes being lit just for the heck of it. They look force-fed. Eyebrows rise even more when a woman is shown smoking.
Anushka Sharma is shown to play a character who craves for a smoke. That isn’t unnatural. Cigarette here is used as a tool to bridge the gender gap in the negative light. This is very difficult to display as the question of promoting something negative pops up.
Well guns, knives and several stuffs shown in the film are dangerous, too. In any film, the characters play negative and positive roles, the plot in question may be dark or romantic or fairy tale, etc. Audiences are matured enough to understand the motive behind the roles and the cinematic usage.
Every cigarette lit has a deep intention behind it. For example *Spoiler Alert*, the last scene where she lights a smoke before killing the main villain, her sole purpose is to hurt the man’s ego. This is clearly seen with the expression and the frustration on the villain’s face.
Darshaan Kumaar plays the main villain who kills his own sister and her lover. The picture revolves around the honor killing case.
The famous incident of Manoj-Babli honour killing shocked the entire country. The killing was ordered by the ‘khap panchayat’ in Kaithal district (Haryana).
Places in Haryana where ‘khap panchayat’ pass their own diktats leading to severe punishments if not adhered had always been in news.
The film NH10 shows the entire mind set of people including the police in charge about such grave murder case. Anushka Sharma is a rebel fighting in her own city and gets caught in the extreme regressive society. She finds smoking as her outlet, her weapon against men.
Obviously to reveal that kind of a gory aspect the film would not aim to have a hunky-dory effect. Film noir is the most difficult to express and after a very long time the shots (no matter how dark) have very deep meaning.
Anushka Sharma smoking in NH10 – well, she wasn’t promoting cigarettes but like men even women can have bad addictions. Smoking isn’t a man’s birthright but if men can openly destroy their health flaunting the cigarette then why can’t women openly smoke?
