Story - 8 X 10 Tasveer

8 X 10 Tasveer is the story of Jai (Akshay Kumar), a young man in his 30's with a supernatural gift of being able to delve into the past of dead people by just  touching an object belonging to them.  His family, friends and even he at times is skeptical of this said power. But Jai manages to eke out a living in this land so steeped in the belief of the supernatural. His father, Jatin, though, feels very strongly that his son is wasting his life away on 'mumbo jumbo' instead of managing the vast business empire he has created. This leads to a complete breakdown of relationship between the two. Jai's mother Savitri cannot bear to be estranged from her only son and maintains secret contact with Jai. Jai's wife Sheela, the love of his life, is grudgingly supportive of her husband but has a 'real 'job and is the actual bread- winner of the family. Life goes on as they know or choose it to until Jatin is killed in a boating accident and Jai feels wretched about losing his father and the times that could have been shared. He then stumbles upon the last photograph taken of the entire group of friends and family on the boat, minutes before the accident. Jai gets pulled into the photograph and realizes that it was no accident and that father was actually murdered. Consumed with grief and curiosity, he starts to investigate by undertaking the dangerous experience of going into the photograph to find the truth. He finds out that every person had a motive and every person could not have committed this heinous crime. He eventually unravels the mystery and in a nail biting finish comes up with a startling answer.  

8 X 10 Tasveer crumbles towards the end, after a promising build up

8 X 10 Tasveer is the story of Jai Puri (Akshay), a forest ranger in Canada. While in a live in relation with Sheela (Takia), he opts to keep away from his parents Jatin (Benjamin Gilani) and Savitri (Sharmila Tagore) as he doesn’t approve of his father’s business dealings. Jai is blessed with supernatural powers with which he can look at any photograph and mentally tune into the moment when it was clicked. His life gets shattered when he comes to know about his father’s death. It is supposedly an accident as his father slipped down their yacht and had a heart attack when falling into the cold water. His mother, father’s business partner cum brother Sunder (Anant Mahadevan), business associate Adit (Rushad Rana) and good friend cum lawyer Anil Sharma (Girish Karnad) were present on the yacht when the accident took place.

While Jai too dismisses it as an accident, Habib aka Happi (Javed Jaffery) a whimsical ex-cop meets him and explains the possibility of a murder. Jai in the beginning disbelieves him but Happi tries to bring to notice proofs that lead Jai to believe that it was indeed a murder. Jai starts using his special gift to trace the murderer through that one photograph which was clicked just minutes before his father died. But then two more murders take place and Jai is left stunned. How one shocking revelation leads to other and what “truth” comes to the fore forms the rest of the film.

8 X 10 Tasveer   begins well. Though slow paced you understand it is intentional and go along the flow. The premise of the film and the setting keep getting really interesting and added to this, some superbly shot sequences keep you on the edge. It is almost like watching a Hollywood suspense thriller directed by M.Night Shyamalan. But then the whole premise falters during the last 30 minutes in what appears like a never ending climax. With the big suspense tumbling out and the reasons given by the murderer appearing far from convincing, you stop taking it seriously. The movie takes too much time to wind up after the suspense is revealed and you lose count of how many dead bodies have fallen. But one must say, the identity of the murderer is indeed very shocking and something that even the biggest of suspense film fan’s will find difficult to predict.

To give credit where due, Kukunoor shows tremendous progress as a technician and has done just the perfect casting for all the parts. His interval point is simply superb as it wipes out all the predictions you are making up till then. Kukunoor was always considered a master story teller but this time he has faltered in this area.

Akshay Kumar deserves a bow for taking the risk to be a part of such an unusual project. He has acted sincerely and given it his all. It is not the typical Akshay that you have got used to watching in the last two years. Ayesha Takia is back in form and impresses. Javed Jaffrey is simply superb right from his entry to exit. Girish Karnad makes a rare appearance and is good as usual. Sharmila Tagore lends grace to her character. Anant Mahadevan and Rushad Rana are good as well. The actress playing Javed Jaffrey’s nurse ex-girlfriend is natural.

The film hardly has scope for music and thankfully songs are kept to the minimum. The background score by Salim Suleiman successfully elevates the thrill element.

8X10 is not entirely a bad film. If you can digest the revelation in the climax, it can work for you otherwise you will end up coming out pulling your hair.