Movie Review: 8x10 Tasveer

I had heard a lot about this movie even before its release. I myself was excited at the prospect of seeing Nagesh Kukunoor direct a purely commercial film with an A-star actor. I had liked his earlier movies like "Rockford" and "3 Deewarein". My friends were saying to me that the promos of the movie were looking excellent. So i decided to give it a go...I would have watched it anywayz because Akshay was in this movie. I planned to watch it in a nearby multiplex but was not able to go because of some commitments.

The story goes like this: Akshay has a supernatural or paranormal gift of looking into people's past by looking into their photographs and he tries to solve a murder mystery by using this gift.

Now when i watched it i realised that the movie tries to be a thriller and attempts regularly to invoke your interest in the mystery, at the same time tries to confuse you by other cues like Happi with a I (Javed Jaffery) being paranoid and delusional. In the first one hour the movies just goes here and there with no point. Thats where i belive Nagesh Kukunoor lacked. He lacked the grip over the audience which is required in a thriller. He takes the movie at a different level when Akshay tries to solve the mystery by going into "The Tasveer". But all the good work which was done came to nothing as the suspense is unravelled. It seems a bit unrealistic and in the end i hated the moment when "the bad-guy had a good-guy streak". The bad-guy didn't felt anything when he was killing people around and suddenly his conscience comes to the fore when he hears a dialogue or two from the hero. Such plotholes exist in the movie and this leads to this movie's downfall.

But everything is not bad about the movie. I have to appreciate the background music given, it enhanced the impact of some scenes which were not too good. About the performances, Akshay does his bit and the supporting cast like Ayesha Takia, Javed Jaffery, Sharmila Tagore, Benjamin Gilani, Sharmila Tagore etc. also supports the movie adequately. But because of some lulls in the pace of the movie because of "not-so-good" direction it doesn't leaves that big a impact that it could have. Nagesh Kukunoor sometimes rushes through some scenes related to the past as if they are a burden to the story....sometimes explanation of the past events enhance the impact of the story by giving audiences a better know how of the characters and their motives...but the director didn't believed in this...probably the pressure to make a whole movie in 2 hours was the reason for such rushed scenes.

Overall an above-average movie. Do give this movie a try. One time watch for Akshay and some good sequences. But if you compare it with other classic thrillers like "Gupt" and even new thrillers like "13B"....it pales in comparison.