Pretty Good

Fantastic!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Beautiful scenery, beautiful soundtrack but very ugly script and horrible direction. Seriously, what were they thinking? It's like somebody saw 'The Butterfly Effect' and decided to get creative with it only to come up with botched up horrible results.Akshay Kumar, looking as suave as ever finds out that his father has accidentally drowned and uses his gift of being able to mentally escape into photographs to try and learn what happened on that fateful afternoon (when he finds a photograph of his father, mother and their friends that was taken aboard their yacht).Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore (as the mum) and Girish Karnad co-star.

Among the current generation of Indian film directors. Nagesh Kukunoor happens to be one of my favourites. I believe his 'Dor', 'Teen Deewarein' and 'Iqbal' are some of the best India has produced in recent times. Coming to the movie at hand, I have noticed that most share a love-hate feeling about '8 X 10 Tasveer', either it is overly praised or highly trashed. I would put it below average but it's not all that bad. However, it is Kukunoor's worst to date.'8 X 10 Tasveer' is a well-made film in terms of use of filming equipment. I liked the novel concept where a man can solve cases just by looking at a photograph. I think Kukunoor would have benefited far more if he had mentioned the concept to Hollywood, NBC, etc because it's an excellent idea for a TV-series. Kukunoor's story is a mess and the revelation in the end is a downright Bollywood cliché. This may remind one of Akshay Kumar's 'Khiladi 420' (Okay, it's not that bad but there is a resemblance in the story). Then of course there are too many plot holes and loose ends (for example, why on earth would a doctor advise parents to remove every memorabilia of their child and how exactly did that make Jai better?). Moreover, the movie moves at a very lethargic pace.The visuals, especially of the stunning Canadian landscape is enticing. The cinematography is amazing too and the background score works for most parts but at times (especially with that electric guitar track) sounds unfittingly awkward.Akshay Kumar does a wonderful job for the most parts. In a few sequences his dialogue delivery is awful but otherwise he proves that he can act very well and that directors need to use the actor in him more than the star. Ayesha Takia is passable. Sharmila Tagore has a strong presence. Girish Karnad is wasted. Clearly he either did this as a favour to Kukunoor or for money. Javed Jaffrey starts off irritating the viewer but he gradually grows on.Kukunoor has headed slightly downward with 'Bombay To Bangkok' (which itself isn't a bad film but it is not in the league of his best works) and with '8 X 10 Tasveer' he seems to steep lower. 'Hope he manages to make up for it with his next movie by making something with heart instead of sucking up to Bollywood conventions (of which this NRI thriller is a prime example).

This is set in Canada where Akshay Kumar plays a Park Ranger. It seems he has a small psychic ability among his skills. On occasion he can gaze into a photo and drop into trance briefly where he is able to see what happened about the time the photo was taken. He doesn't do this often as it taxes him physically. His father drowns apparently from a heart attack but a former policeman who knew the father believes it was murder. A photo has been taken just prior to the drowning. The Akshay character then goes into the photo a number of times seeking the perspective of each person in the photo at the time. I hadn't been sure about getting it. The cover photo is very dark and references to it make it sound quite violent. Actually we found it was no more troubling than an episode of 'Midsommer Murders'. In fact there are a few more murders after Dad goes down but they are circumspect and not graphic. The description on the back of the DVD didn't even seemed to match the plot of the movie: almost like we'd got a heavily edited version or different one. The emphasis was on the supernatural but really a bit of going into a photo is pretty minor 'supernatural". It says he can touch the past of dead people by touching something belonging to them BUT THAT WASN'T IN THE MOVIE- all he could do was the photo-trance thing! (this wasn't the only inconsistency) The Indian reviewers found the movie left a few questions, and described the revelation of who had done it as 'shocking". We agreed with that we queried some of the plot at the end but not enough to ruin it by any means. Nor were we at all shocked by the revelation of the killer. It isn't a song & dance Bollywood nor is it art-house. The music is in the background. Canada looked picturesque and the plot unfolded at a good pace. Akshay Kumar did a fine job with the character (and we wish he'd skip comedy and stick with straighter movies.) They flirted for a moment with adding a silly side to the former policeman that wasn't necessary but otherwise everyone acted well. This is a movie that didn't do well in India and has received mixed responses) perhaps because it is more Western) but was quite a watchable and respectable thriller/whodunit. There is suspense but it isn't scary, dark or violent.

i saw this movie. i liked the story. but i felt there is some problem in the direction, they made the movie like a family drama or something like that. a bit of chill and would have made it better. in whole cinema in just one scene it looks like thriller, the scene where akshay and Ayesha searching the house. I also felt tired watching the same scene again again when it shows akshay going into the pic and his journey to the boat. in the movie they can give some clues about the ending to us, at once the ending feels like the '80's movie. but hats off to the production team to try a new genre... but whatever it is, it is not a thriller, you can say it mystery movie.