Story
Jai (Akshay Kumar) is son of a billionaire in Canada and he starts his own non-profit organization EPS (Environmental Protection Service) to conserve forests and wildlife. He is not happy with the way his father is earning money at the cost of environment. Jai has a special power of going into the time when a photo is taken and stays there for a minute to observe what exactly happened over there. His father dies in a mishap and later Jai suspects that it could be a murder. Jai gets hold of a photo taken at that time and goes into the scene several times to see what exactly happened over there. The rest of the story is all about ‘whodunit’.

Actors:
Akshay came out of his star image to do such a different film. He is extremely good. Ayesha Takia is excellent as the girlfriend of Akshay. Girish Karnad and Sharmila Tagore are adequate. Javed Jaffery is hilarious as a paranoid suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder regarding hygiene. Rushad Rana is competent.

Technical departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is a typical murder mystery with a vital twist at the end. What makes this film different is the innovative screenplay. If Nagesh Kukunoor’s film Teen Deewarein dealt a screenplay akin to that of Amores Perros, the screenplay of 8x10 Tasweer is inspired by the mother of non-leaner narratives ‘Rashomon’. Like ‘Vantage point’ film where the points of views of nine people were taken to solve a murder mystery, Tasweer film takes the views of four people to find the culprit. Protagonist traveling into the past and looking from various people’s eyes is similar to looking at footages of videos taken from different angles. Like all murder mysteries, Nagesh Kukunoor also makes us suspect all the characters in the film but for the right one. Nagesh does a good job in screenplay and a bad job in directing the film. He could not get the grip in the latter part of the film second half where the secret is revealed. Though this film is supposed to be a supernatural thriller, it defies the following logics –

1. If the photo is burnt while protagonist visits past, he would be locked over there. But he comes out in this film. Protagonist injecting himself after completion of one minute is shown, but the logic is not clearly explained.
2. Protagonist is shown going after the suspect even when his girl friend and mother were in a critical position.

Other technical departments: The execution of this film is in Hollywood style. The cinematography and background music are of top notch quality. The only song in the film is uncalled for. Dialogues are crisp and effective (especially the ones written for Happy with an I). Editing is adequate.

Analysis: 8x10 Tasveer is a typical ‘whodunit’ film with an interesting screenplay we generally see in Hollywood films. The movie starts with a kid looking frighteningly at a ball at the edge of a hill. And the same scene is replayed at the end explaining it. The plus points of the film are story and screenplay. The negative points are non-so-gripping narration, slow pace and lack of tempo. If you are academically interested in screenplay techniques, you may watch the film. Others might have to think twice before watching it.

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