The eastern part released one new album as Zabranjeno Pušenje - 1997's Ja nisam odavle. In 1999 the band was then renamed Emir Kusturica & No Smoking Orchestra and released four more albums and continued touring all around the world. In 1998 the band composed the music for Emir Kusturica's film Black Cat, White Cat, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival the same year. Since June 1999, the band has been regularly touring worldwide. They developed quite a following internationally in the process. Their popularity is particularly notable in Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France) where most of their initial touring took place in late 1990s and early 2000s and in Latin America where the band first played in 2001, gradually developing a spirited fan base throughout the continent, especially in Argentina. Lately, the band has also fond much success deep into Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Armenia).

Although they enjoy success worldwide, at home in Serbia their new ethno sound received a lukewarm reaction as many of the band's longtime fans had trouble accepting the shift towards ethno/folk/gypsy sound. During the first homecoming with the new sound in early July 2004, the band was essentially forced off stage at the large open-air concert at Belgrade's Ušće Park by agitated fans who pelted the stage with plastic water bottles only 40 minutes into the set. The concert that attracted a large crowd of 40,000 fans also had Riblja Čorba on the bill and was conceptualized as a joint anniversary of sorts - 20 years since Zabranjeno Pušenje released its debut album and 25 years since Riblja Čorba did the same. However, despite being announced and promoted as a "Zabranjeno Pušenje" gig, the band haven't played a single song from the Zabranjeno Pušenje era during the first 40 minutes - choosing instead to go with the No Smoking Orchestra material - all of which prompted the fans' aggressive reaction.