Hattrick (Comedy)

Cast: Kunal Kapoor, Rimi Sen, Paresh Rawal, Nana Patekar and Danny Denzongpa

Direction: Milan Lutheria

Showing at theatres near you

Kathmandu:

Cricket cuts across the length and breadth of India, even when it is on celluloid! Whether it be Lagaan or Iqbal, cricket cuts the cackle and creates curiosity. Though Hattrick does not fall in the same league as the above mentioned movies, it bowls you over for entirely different cerebral reasons. It does not make pretentious promises and yet sweeps over cricket crazy India. In the run-up to the Cricket World Cup finals, it creates a credible backdrop, where cricket creeps into the lives of the characters only to create chaos.

Hattrick follows the predicament of three different people, more or less connected by cricket. The saturnine and no-nonsense Dr Satyajeet Chauhan (Nana Patekar), Saby (Kunal Kapoor), and the beleagured Hemu Patel (Paresh Rawal). However, the story does not follow the old and the beaten track as it breaks into the intricacies of life, which exist apart from the world of cricket.

Satyajit follows the life of a stickler, whose only mission in life is to save patients. And though he pretends, his own life has a void that nothing really can fulfil. Enter David Abraham (Danny Denzongpa), a former cricket captain, and he reveals the secret to happiness. Saby, another cricket buff, beholds his life fall apart all because of his craze for cricket. And Hemu Patel brings disgrace to his own existence just to be a first rate Brit.

The stories, which appear in the form of montages, are simple and even silly at times. They are not interlinked with one another, but do not fall apart for lack of coherence. However, the major USP of the flick lies in the performance of the characters. While Kunal Kapoor proves himself to be more than a sidekick, even Rimi Sen gives a rivetting performance. Nana Patekar is confined to the role of the archetypal perfectionist. Paresh also is in fine fettle.