8X10 Tasveer (2009)

Synopsis: The clear, shimmering light of the Canadian Rockies lends a look not often seen in Bollywood films to the exteriors of 8X10 TASVEER, but writer-director Nagesh Kukunoor prefers to send the camera... The clear, shimmering light of the Canadian Rockies lends a look not often seen in Bollywood films to the exteriors of 8X10 TASVEER, but writer-director Nagesh Kukunoor prefers to send the camera away from the stunning mountain scenery to lurk instead in shadowy attics, in dingy apartments, under a lake, and in the past, which may be the darkest place of all. Kukunoor, known for character-driven dramas such as IQBAL and DOR, seems to be aiming this time for something completely different--a suspenseful supernatural eco-thriller. Forest ranger Jai Puri (Akshay Kumar, looking equally at ease chasing down bad guys and playing straight man to an oddball cop) has a secret: he can look into photographs and see things that happened to the people in them. Jai uses his power only reluctantly, partly because doing so takes a terrible physical toll, and partly because he knows that claiming to see the past make people think he’s crazy. When Jai’s father, an oilman estranged from his environmentalist son, dies suddenly on his yacht, Jai learns of his father’s recent change of heart about the oil business. He also gets a visit from obsessive-compulsive policeman (Jaaved Jaaferi in scene-stealing mode, wearing dust-free suits and constantly rearranging his firearms): was Jai’s father murdered? Using a photograph taken on the boat by Jai’s mother (Sharmila Tagore), Jai and his fiancée, Sheela (Ayesha Takia), try to reconstruct what happened. Fast-motion psychedelic effects and increasing physical debilitation accompany each of Jai’s trips into the eyes of the photo’s subjects--some of whom seem to be hiding secrets of their own. As the muscular metal and rap soundtrack (by Salim-Sulaiman and Bohemia) propels the film from jump to jump, the audience can only wait tensely for each of the screenplay’s next impossible-to-predict twists. [More]

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Jaaved Jaaferi, Ayesha Takia, Girish Karnad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Jaaved Jaaferi, Ayesha Takia, Girish Karnad, Rushaad Rana, Sharmila Tagore, Anant Mahadevan, Benjamin Gilani

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Screenwriter: Nagesh Kukunoor
Producer: Elahe Hiptoola
Composer: Salim-Sulaiman

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