Hattrick'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 111min 35secs
Directed by: Milan Lutharia

Character Sketches:
Dr. Satyajeet Chavan & Madhav Anna played respectively by Nana Patekar & Danny Denzongpa: Madhav Anna, a veteran cricketer is married to his Love – Cricket, cricket and more cricket! Dr. Satyajeet Chavan, a crazy doctor, loves to hate cricket and prefers bouncing glucose to the ball! Talk about cricket to him and he will bowl you out of his hospital! The crux of the story here is that our veteran cricketer ends up in his hospital during the world cup.

Saby & Kashmira played by Kunal Kapoor & Rimi Sen: Saby is a cricket addict, so much so that his television set is better company than his seductive wife. Give his wife a chance to spin a passionate moment and what you have is a practice session on how to conceal the remote control from a husband who is clean bowled by Dhoni’s performance than his wife’s love. A crash course in cricket and his wife is all for the game. Well, not exactly, she is stumped by love… love… for ace cricketer Dhoni! Then commences Saby’s relentless fielding to outwit his wife’s accelerating obsession.

Hemu Patel played by Paresh Rawal:One the other side of the planet, London, is Hemu Patel. A janitor, a cricket maniac and an illegal immigrant! His single pre-occupation in life is scoring a UK citizenship, even if that implies tampering his passionate Indian patriotism to disguise his English fidelity. A victim of racism within himself as well as around him, Hemu Patel is at the batting end of a maiden over.

Deriving it’s name from the famous magical expression, “Hat Trick”, it deals with three stories across different slices of life, each of which reaches a crescendo and each of which needs the protagonist to pull out a magic trick from the hat, something that they’ve never done before, and something that must be done now, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds… Because it will make the difference between winning and losing!

The life of each character with Cricket, to be specific, with the World Cup 2007 that is to be played in the Caribbean.

Overall Impressions:
It seems to be the in-thing at the moment to have multiple independant stories that culminate in one climax. Thanfully this one doesn't try too hard to integrate the stories, in fact it doesn't bother at all - but it works. All three stories keep you interested and with a mere 2 hours to cover the three it doesn't feel long (which is the other common feeling I seem to find recently).

The songs have been shifted to almost background and snipped short to keep the on-goings pacy. This is a definite plus. When films have songs that do not move the narrative along or have a distinctive need structurally, then this is the ideal way to fit them around so that they are not lost yet not a hindrance.

Performances all-round are top notch, in particular Kunal Kapoor in his second film after Rang De basanti is one to watch out for. The veterans Nana Patekar & Danny Denzongpa are on form as always. Paresh Rawal is totally believable in his annoying, comical & emotional parts.

The cricket season is sure to catch the crowd that its aimed at, but it doesn't end there. You don't have to know or enjoy cricket to get a good vibe from this film. A winner all-round.

Thoroughly enjoyable, short and sweet. Recommended. (7 out of 10)