CriticGirl91
This movie is full of random occurrences and loose ends which leave the viewer frustrated to the core. Not what I expected from ace filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor.Story-wise, the film does not make much sense since everything is conveniently depicted without any nuances behind the process. Okay, so Akshay's unfortunate twin is behind the whole mess, but how does he manage to land up everywhere going unnoticed? How does Akshay survive the burning of the Tasveer? How does Sharmila Tagore escape the brutal attack by her son? Why do two stupid lines motivate the evil twin to commit suicide? How did Ayesha Takia keep fooling Akshay all the time? When did she meet his evil twin? And the biggest question of all, what bearing does Akshay's photo entering specialty have at all in this film? By the way, the explanation of how he developed this ability was no less frustrating itself.Performance-wise, Akshay is good. Ayesha is great here but has been cheated by the script like almost all others; especially Rushad Rana who seems to be what Jugal Hansraj is to Yashraj films, a compulsion. A waste of a good actor.Why do I give the film 2 stars then? One, it is well-polished in its graphics, pretty comparable to western films. Also, Salim-Suleiman's outstanding music is a complement to even lousy films, more so in the case of this one.Unlike many other reviewers, I wouldn't recommend this for even a one time watch. This is best given a miss.
shmsndr8
Jai (Akshay Kumar) is a Canadian forest officer with an ability to see the past through photographs. When his father gets killed in a boat accident, he is informed about some foul play at work by a detective Habibullah Pasha (Javed Jaffrey). With the aid of a photograph clicked just moments before his father's death, Jai tries to find out whether his father met with an accidental death or whether he was killed? 8*10 Tasveer is one of Kuknoor's finest films that became a flop at the BO. But I am sure it will be regarded as a cult thriller in the years to come. A by-the-book thriller, it has the finesse of a Hollywood film. THe only flaw is the climax where the motive comes across as half-hearted without too much explanation about details. But if you have enjoyed Hollywood movies such as "The Ring" (2002), you will definitely love this movie.Acting is solid here with Akshay coming up with a restrained and different performance. This is undoubtedly one of his best till date. Those who cringe at his comedies should check this out to know what a great actor he is turning out to be.Akshay has been ably supported by the rest of the cast, including Jaffrey, Rushad Rana, Ayesha Takia, Girish Karnad, Anant Mahadevan and Benjamin Gilani. It was nice to watch Sharmila Tagore as AK's mother. Music was not good enough except for "Nazaara Hai". However, background score by Salim-Sulaiman is top-notch. Cinematography is excellent. My rating - 8/10.
William Turner
Nagesh Kukunoor was one of my idol directors from India. I had never expected anything so cheap from him. Not only the story is a worthless piece of rat-droppings, the direction is crappy too. Akshay Kumar has done what he could, which unfortunately could not save the movie. This is sad time for Indian directors. The director who is capable of making Dor, Iqbal and Hyderabad Blues should never make a cheap thriller like this. This is not only dumbing down his own work, but the whole Hindi art cinema industry. I would also like to plead to Hindi movie fans that, Instead of trying to increase the ratings, please rate Hindi movies seriously. This will help promote them further. Movies like this deserve low score, which makes other better movies recommendable.
AishFan
The main subject of 8x10 is an interesting idea--that a guy can look at a photograph and travel back in time to when the photo was taken. I thought the explanation provided by Bebiji is very intriguing--comparing the concept to tarot reading. Despite having this interesting idea, this movie ended up being nothing more than a typical whodunnit with nauseating clichés. The climax in particular is absolutely abominable. I thought Bollywood had finally ceased the "bachpan mein bichda hua judwaa bhai" (long-lost twin brother) track ages ago, but once again it has popped up. The scene with the police not able to figure out which twin to believe reminds me of way too many films. Then it just so happens that the protagonist happens to hold a world record in holding his breath underwater so that the audience is "surprised" to see him survive almost drowning. I mean, for real, a guy is all chained up at the bottom of a deep lake and manages to dig into the sock of a nearby corpse, take out his gun, aim the gun through his chains, and shoot it to break the chains, and manage to come back to the surface, climb a yacht, and make a comeback. In addition, the movie is very dark in nature and not a pleasant watch. Akshay acted very well, while Ayesha gave a poor performance. Sharmila Tagore is really nice though.
AD
