8 x 10 Tasveer

Nagesh Kukunoor who gave us two back-to-back slices of inspirational cinema in Iqbal and Dor and then burned his hands with comedy Bombay To Bangkok now Nagesh enters a new zone with 8 x 10 TASVEER. Yet, 8 x 10 TASVEER goes wrong, horribly wrong.

8x10 Tasveer’ is the story of a young man with a unique supernatural gift of looking into the past of dead people. These inward trips, when repeated more than one can bear, elicit outward trips by viewers to the cafeteria. After all, if the hero needs adrenaline to stay alive, we need a shot of caffeine to stay awake. The film’s that bad.


So we have Jai (Akshay Kumar) living in with a girlfriend ( Ayesha Takia ) with whom he shares no apparent chemistry but whom he plans to marry. Jai has a unique gift of looking at people’s photographs and having a vision of the moments after the snap was clicked.

When Jai’s billionaire father (Benjamin Gilani) dies in an accident and a cranked-out detective ( Javed Jaffrey ) shows up and tries to convince Jai that his dead dad was murdered for wealth. This personal tragedy leads him to use his unique supernatural powers to unravel the mystery.

Armed with this photograph into which he keeps ‘going’ repeatedly, Jai digs deeper into the mystery even as the finger of suspicion keeps shifting from his mom and his uncle to two more characters close to his dad. There are so many gaps that remain wide open till the end.

Akshay pitches in a sincere performance. 8 x 10 TASVEER is a complete departure from the kind of films the actor is popular for and it only goes to prove that he's ready to experiment. Ayesha is natural. Sharmila Tagore is graceful. Jaaved Jaaferi is first-rate. Girish Karnad, Benjamin Gilani, Ananth Mahadevan and Rushaad Rana are perfect in their respective roles.


Nagesh Kukunoor seems to have completely lost it this time. As the writer and director of this sleep-inducing, ridiculously contrived film with half-baked subplots, he’s the one on whom the blame should fall squarely.

So many questions beg to be answered. If you are brave to sit awake through two-plus hours of banality. On the whole, 8 x 10 TASVEER disappoints. This tasveer is out of focus!

A wednesday

Expect the unexpected in A Wednesday. From the writing point of view to the execution of the written material, writer-director Neeraj Pandey never takes the been-there-seen-that route even once.

A Wednesday offered you twist after twist, throwed down challenge after challenge in those 1.30 hours. No sub-plots, no songs, no unwanted masala, no unnecessary tracks, A Wednesday has a story to tell and it tells most effectively.

The editor (Shree Narayan Singh) deserves lavish praises for giving shape to this thriller. During the finale specifically Anupam is driving towards the location, while Naseer is packing his stuff the parallel scenes are juxtaposed brilliantly. The background score (Sanjay Chowdhury) is stirring.

Naseeruddin Shah has delivered several remarkable performances over the decades and the one in A Wednesday easily makes its way into his Top 5 works when you recall his body of work.

Anupam Kher is equally dynamic. If there's one actor who could stand up to a giant of an actor, it's Anupam Kher. An outstanding performance indeed!

Every performance in A Wednesday is charged. Jimmy Sheirgill is first-rate as a volatile cop. Aamir Bashir is superb. Again, this actor has never got his due in feature films. It's our loss, not his! Deepal Shaw plays her part confidently.

Chetan Pandit, as the Chief Minister, is effective. Ditto for the actor who plays the main terrorist Kali Prasad Mukherjee. On the whole, A Wednesday is cinema at its best.

It may not be a Kinng-sized entertainer to lure the audiences in hordes and set the box-office afire, but A Wednesday does pack in king-sized punch. Do yourself a favour Watch A Wednesday if you have missed it.

Aitraaz

The Indian moviegoer has often witnessed man-sexually-molesting-woman situations on the big screen. In this particular movie a woman is accusing man of molesting her.

The movie Aitraaz tackles the issue of sexual harassment, with the unique spin of placing the man in the position of victim and the woman as aggressor. The film casts Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles.

In the accused box of the courtroom, stands a man, startled and shocked that destiny could lead him there. He is accused of the most heinous crime - molesting his lady-boss. Raj Malhotra (played by Akshay Kumar), who works for a cell phone company, is popular amongst his circle of friends and work colleagues. But his world comes crashing down when he meets Sonia (Priyanka Chopra) again.

Sonia is an ambitious model with great aspirations. She knows what she wants in life. She is prepared to achieve her goals, whatever the price. Her fundas in life are crystal clear: Nothing shall come in between her wants and desires. Raj is well aware that Sonia knew only one way to live and that was her way. And one fateful evening, things did not go her way. Sonia brings Raj's world to a screeching halt. Raj's wife Priya (Kareena Kapoor), once a lawyer herself, is prepared to do anything to protect her husband's honour and dignity.

And from a content housewife, Priya becomes a woman with a mission that she must accomplish. She is now Raj's partner in more ways than one. Thrown into this web of deceit is Raj's boss, Ranjit Roy (Amrish Puri), who happens to be Sonia's husband. He is a mere pawn in her hands. The drama has just begun. The court is far from adjourned… Inspired by Barry Levinson's Hollywood flick Disclosure, Aitraaz has a plot that Indian cinegoers haven't witnessed on the screen yet.

Aitraaz belongs to Priyanka Chopra completely. No two opinions on that! Be it her first appearance or the sequence, Priyanka did full justice to her character in the film.

Kareena has a sugar-and-sweet character till the pre-climax and she does it well. Akshay Kumar underplays his character ably. Amrish Puri is alright. The theme of the movie is extremely provocative. Himesh Reshammiya's music sounds pleasant to the ears. Cinematography is first-rate. On the whole, Aitraaz is a well-crafted thriller.....

3 Idiots

3 Idiots is a forthcoming Bollywood film that is directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The movie stars Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, and Boman Irani showcasing important roles. Kajol will make a special appearance in the film. The flick is slated for a release on December 25, 2009.




3 Idiots is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and at the same time Abhijat Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani have written the screenplay for the film. The film's soundtrack is composed by Shantanu Moitra and the lyrics are penned by Swanand Kirkire.

3 Idiots basically tells the story of three friends whose dismal grade point averages at their college influence their friendship, romance and career, etc. The film is based on a famous novel, Five Point Someone written by Chetan Bhagat. This is a laugh-riot that talks about the most important parts of human pursuits. Don't miss to see the sizzling chemistry between Kareena and Aamir Khan....