After the debacle of his last flick ‘Chandni Chowk To China’, Akshay Kumar will next be seen in a supernatural thriller ‘8 X 10 Tasveer’ directed by Nagesh Kukunoor and produced by Bhushan Kumar. The other cast members include Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Javed Jaffrey, Anant Mahadevan and Piah Shah. The musical notes have been given by none other than the Oscar winner A.R Rahman.

The film is a story about young man named Jai Puri played by Akshay is gifted with special sense, i.e. he can go inside the 8X10 Photograph and enter in the past. While his body remains at nausea state, his soul is busy re-discovering the past, when he is out of his nausea he always has a secret related to someone’s past. His father was murdered, and one day he will witness the same scene from an 8X10 photograph.

Akshay had reportedly gone through some dark writings of Edgar Allan Poe and the 19th century French writer Guy de Maupassant to get into the skin of his role for the film.

Since Akshay wanted to understand the world of mystery and science fiction, he chose to make himself aware of supernatural and mystery thrillers which could help him pull off the role better.

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Says Director Anthony D’Souza on ’ Blue ’: "It is the story of three friends who set out to find a sunken treasure ship. Sanjay and Akshay play fishermen based in the Bahamas, Zayed is a flamboyant guy who joins them in a treasure hunt. Lara plays Sanjay’s wife and Katrina ’s character has grey shades to it."

Here is a sneak peek at one of the most awaited movie of 2009!

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It takes a maverick director to propose The most expensive film in Bollywood ever! And its takes a gutsy producer to agree! But to actually get the biggest cast together, combined with the finest international crew, a prodigy music composer AND an international sensation …Now that’s either sheer madness or sheer genius!

So come along to dive deep into the BLUE ocean of this talented group and start an adventurous expedition to uncover the treasures hidden under the sea!Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar , Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan – what a casting coup! You know them well…

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The fight between Akshay Kumar and his father-in-law and yesteryear superstar Rajesh Khanna seems to have created fissures in the Khanna ‘khandaan’. For those who tuned in late, Akshay Kumar is married to Rajesh Khanna’s elder daughter, Twinkle.

Akshay was keen on acquiring Rajesh Khanna’s famous bungalow, Aashirwad on Carter Road in Bandra. He was, in fact, planning to move it off to builder Vicky Oberoi (married to Gayatri Joshi of ‘Swades’ fame) to redevelop it and construct a huge building in its place. But Kaka is in no mood to part with his multicrore property, though at one point he was even toying with the idea of settling down in Delhi to further his political career.

However, whenever the media has queried them about the strain in their relationship, both ‘sasur’ and ‘damaad’ have maintained that there’s no such rift between them. We tried to speak to Rajesh Khanna, who was busy shooting for ‘Raghukul Reet Sada Chali Aayi’ in Andheri, but as expected he refused that there was any bad blood between him and Akshay. "There is nothing of that sort between us," he said. But he also added, "I love my grandson way too much and Twinkle and Akshay know about it." Before we could ask him what he actually indicated by that statement, he hung up.

Now with Khanna’s persistent denial to let go off his place, it does seem that the fight may spill on to the streets. It’s learnt that Khanna has also given an ultimatum now stating that if the house has to be taken over, it should be only after his death. But for a stubborn father-in-law, Akshay would have also owned a plush bungalow in the posh locales of Bandra ala Salman Khan and arch rival Shah Rukh Khan. But then, not all things can be bought with money. Yeah, Akki?

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Dressed as junior versions of a princess, a diva and as little sardars doing the ’Singh is Kinng’ signature routine, 70 children scorched the ramp Sunday evening for Ritu Beri’s kids collection launched by Bollywood star Akshay Kumar.Named ’Baby Beri’, the collection is Beri’s line of occasion wear for kids segregated in three sub-divisions – Beri Princess, Rock Star Babes and Bollywood Divas.

’Designing kids’ clothing is a playful and joyful experience. The endeavour is to showcase designs that are stylish, trendy and comfortable all at the same time. The idea is to bring out the youthfulness and cheerfulness of kids,’ Beri said here.Akshay, who joined the children on the ramp, said: ’I remember when I was a kid, I had only three pairs of clothes. But, looking at them dressed in such colourful clothes today was so beautiful. I feel Ritu should launch a men’s collection too to have some variety for men.’

Sponsored by Fortis La Femme, the event was dedicated to The Blessed Hearts Foundation, a charity for children.While the collections from the event were Beri’s contribution to the foundation, the actor also donated an undisclosed amount for the cause.

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Akshay Kumar is in a charitable mood. When Akshay learnt that two of his closest friends, actor Manoj Joshi and producer Rakesh Upadhyay were organising a show of Manoj’s play Chanakya for the family of late constable Tukaram Ombale, the actor promptly sent a cheque of Rs 5 lakh for Ombale’s family.

That’s not all. Akshay has also taken the responsibility of educating Ombale’s younger daughters Vaishali and Bharti. Ombale lost his life while trying to nab terrorist Ajmal Qasab on the night of 26/11.

Although Akshay did not attend the play as he was busy, he made it a point to send his sister Alka to attend the show. Alka met Tukaram’s daughter Vaishali and gave her the cheque.

We tried to get in touch with one of Ombale’s elder daughters, Vandana whose husband Rajendra said, ’’Yes, Akshayji has given us a cheque of Rs 5 lakh. He has also offered financial assistance for Vaishali’s as well as Bharti’s education. Vaishali is doing her B.Ed while Bharti is a final year B.Com student.’’

And have they spoken to Akshay after receiving the cheque? ’’Unfortunately, we have not been able to speak to Akshayji as he has been very busy,’’ said Rajendra.

Manoj Joshi said, ’’Although Tukaram only had a lathi to fight the terrorist, he did not care for his life even though he knew that Qasab had deadly weapons. Tukaram’s bravery should not go unnoticed. Akshay has done what few people would do. I have newfound respect for him.’’

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John Landis director of Beverly Hills Cop 3, Blues Brothers, Coming To America and Trading Places, Rob Cohen of Dragonheart, The Fast & Furious and Bruce Lee Story and McG who has just finished Terminator 4, were some of the topnotch Hollywood directors who turned up for the Los Angeles premiere of Chandni Chowk To China on Wednesday night at the posh Steve J.Ross theatre right inside the Warner Brother premises.

Minutes before he jetted off with his cast to New York for the next premiere director Nikhil Advani said, "We couldn’t stay for the LA premiere for more than 35 minutes because we had to leave for the NY premiere.

But I could see the audience which included directors John Landis, Rob Cohen and McG plus top brass from Warner Brothers were laughing at the right places and for the right reason and in an emotional scene they all went silent."

It’s going to be a glamorous whirligig for our own Deepika Padukone and Akshay Kumar.

Says Nikhil, "We didn’t know what the exact turn-out at the LA premiere was going to be. The RSVPs kept coming till the last hour.

Over here the biggest of stars let you know if they aren’t coming. (Quite unlike the Mumbai premieres). It’s Warner Brothers’ prestigious Bollywood product and they’re releasing it on a par with any Hollywood film with 50 prints in the US."

After the LA premiere the cast and director will attend the New York premiere on 8 January followed by the Toronto premiere on 9 Jan.

"We then proceed to London on the 10th. On the 12th is the London premiere at the Empire theater at Leicester Square."

After the film’s Indian release Nikhil goes for the Hong Kong and Dubai premieres of his film.

However the much- expected premiere of Chandni Chowk To China in the Chinese Republic has not materialized.

Apparently the Chinese government has denied the film the permission for release.

Says Nikhil, "What can I say? China only allows twenty international filns to be released every year. …anyway the film will be out on pirated DVDs in China so the people there will see how much we’ve done to honour the country."

Interestingly Nikhil Advani saw his own film for the first time on Tuesday. "I’ve to say at 2 hours 32 minutes it’s much shorter than my last film Salaam-e-Ishq. In fact after I saw the film I edited out three minutes of playing time."

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2008 is gone forever and 2009 has crept in with many promising films in store. 2008 was a year of Bollywood relationships going public with Saif-Kareena and Deepika-Ranbir openly admitting that they are in love. 2008 was a year with little hits and much flops. Hope 2009 fights the global recession raining gold at the box-office. Some of the films to be recently released are ‘Bad Luck Govind’, ‘Kaash….Mere Hote’, ‘The President is Coming’ on January 9. On the same date will be coming Rakesh Sarang’ directed ‘Horn Ok Pleassss’ starring Nana Patekar, Rimi Sen and Muzammil Ibrahim.

January 16 will see the release of much awaited ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ starring Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Shorey and Mithun Chakraborty’ in lead roles.

‘The Murderer’ and ‘Firaaq’ will be released on January 23 along with ‘Raaz-The Mystery continues’ from Mohit Suri. The film has Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut and Adhyayan in the lead roles.

Other films to be released in Januray are ‘Victory’, ‘Luck By Chance’, ‘Mumbai Chakachak’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Filsm to be released in February are ‘Aloo Chat’, ‘Jugaad’, ‘Billu Barber’ starring SRK, Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta, ‘Delhi 6’ with Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor in lead roles, ‘Rang Rasiya’, ‘Fox’ and so on.

With so many filsm in store 2009 definitely seems to be promising!!

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Akshay Kumar is a loving husband, so what if he charges the poor producers 9 crores for a mere dubbing job even when the world economy is down in the dumps. Look what nice things he does with all the money. He pays heavy income tax to the Indian government and keeps his wife happy… Thats perhaps the greatest achievement for any Indian man – because these two things are literally impossible to achieve for many Indian men.

He decided to gift her a lavish Bentley Car worth 3 crore to his wifey dear on her birthday on 29th December. Apparently he spent so much for her because he was extremely proud of her and wanted to give her the best of everything because he owes his success to her.

Apparently he handed the car keys to his wife before he flew off to Hong Kong for Christmas Show. Twinkle was overwhelmed with joy we heard.

You need to look at an animation film differently. Let the kid in you come to the forefront when you watch one. At the same time, it’s pertinent that every film, live or animation, should possess that grip to keep the viewer hooked to the proceedings for the next 2 hours.

Percept’s Jumbo may not be as entertaining as HANUMAN — one film that opened the doors for animation films in India — but it is shades better than most amateur attempts that followed the success of HANUMAN.

Jumbo, based on ’Chao Praya Prah Hongsawadee’, a story by Ariya Jintapanichkarn, tells the adventures of Jaiveer aka Jumbo, a baby elephant. He dreams of following Yudhveer, his absent father, and becoming the royal elephant. Jumbo decides to go in search of his father.

During his search, Jumbo meets up with a kindly elephant trainer, a hyperactive messenger bird and a female elephant, who becomes his sweetheart later. Subsequently, Jumbo becomes a war elephant and defends his kingdom against the evil opponents.

Jumbo bears an uncanny resemblance to THE LION KING. You don’t take to the film instantly, but it picks up towards the latter part when Jumbo is chosen by the king to fight the opponents.

The animation isn’t at par with the best (SHREK, THE LION KING, FINDING NEMO, the recent hit MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA), but the quality is better than some of the stuff we’ve witnessed in India.

Jumbo has the trappings of a typical Hindi film. There’s revenge, romance, emotions, action… plus, the voiceovers by several top names, besides a song (well choreographed by Ahmed Khan) and scenes featuring Akshay Kumar.

Also, the voiceovers are in sync with the lip moments. Akshay, Dimple Kapadia, Rajpal Yadav and Gulshan Grover infuse life in those characters.

On the whole, Jumbo is a sweet, sincere and simple film that works. Who knows, it may spring a surprise this Christmas. Recommended for kids from 6 to 60.

Rating: ***