Indian wedding

UTV Motion Pictures
Hattrick

Produced by: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Milan Luthria
Music by: Pritham
Dialogues: Anurag Kashyap
Featuring : Nana Patekar, Danny Denzongpa, Paresh Rawal, Kunal Kapoor and Rimi Sen

Missing connection
What was Milan Luthria thinking! One wonders while coming out of the movie hall after watching his serious debacle at feel-good cinema. From the introduction, to the characters, to the end credits, one keeps asking oneself this question and never finds the answer.

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Hattrick is yet another multiple-track story which tries to connect each one through the medium of cricket (yawn). The central characters of each track are all bound by a personal problem, which is solved by one talk from the wife (your own or your dad's) and the film ends making one wish if only everyone listened to their wives, all the problems in the world would have been solved. Milan Luthria has given a similar evidence of a preachy, tacky screenplay which is heard rather than even seen in his previous blockbuster 'Taxi No 9211'. Except here he does so without really interweaving the audience with the characters to generate enough sympathy for any of them.

Hattrick is the story of three sets of protagonists. Kunal Kapoor and Rimi Sen, husband and wife who are separated because of the husband's love for cricket and the wife's love for a cricketer. Their story mainly deals with finding a common ground of give and take in a relationship. Danny and Nana Patekar form the second track where Danny, a happy-go-lucky bowler of the Indian cricket team past his prime and a cricket-addict teaches Nana, a stiff upper lipped doctor a few things about how to live life. Paresh Rawal is an NRI in UK hungering for a British citizenship to save face among his Indian counterparts back home. Through Paresh's character the director talks about racism in it's all-pervading slants and demolishes a few myths about general thinking.

Lofty ideals and thought-provoking concepts, all of which fall flat on their face because of the poor presentation. To begin with, the point of the film is established after a considerable time and that too is misleading in the case of Kunal Kapoor and Rimi Sen. You are finally introduced to a goal to their story but the whole thing is turned upside down by a flimsy thought-process which thoroughly disappoints. The director advocates a continual and equal give and take for a successful relationship, which is fine, but one wishes it were well said as well.

Danny and Nana's track though seemingly heart-warming is pretentious at its best. Without any provocation or reason Danny takes up upon himself to teach Nana the art of being happy. How he does that in the end is still a mystery (Oh! But the wife's talk is definitely the final push!) In sequences that so remind one of Munnabhai MBBS, the director tries to instill new life in the dead hospital through Danny's character and wins in the end. He brings a smile on Nana's face but fails to bring one on ours.

Paresh Rawal's track is meant to sell the film only to the NRI Gujarati population in the West. Besides, it is also meant to clear the concepts of racism in our minds through the evolvement of Paresh's character from a confused hypocrite to someone who recognises and embraces real values. True, a real problem, and to solve it, the director goes all out in bringing in tacky situations to miraculous resolutions that again lead you to think, what was he thinking?

And what is cricket doing in the middle of all this mess? Well, nothing much really.

There is nothing to write home about in all the three tracks, its characters or even actors. Except for Danny who is so refreshingly jovial and quirky, he is the only thing worth watching in the film. Sadly for all the women out there, not even Kunal Kapoor measures up. Paresh Rawal is average in a bad role, Nana delivers what little he is supposed to with typical agility and Rimi Sen looks good but that's about it.

Technically, some decent editing has saved the visual appeal of the film. Production values vary throughout and one wonders if the film went through some funding crunch. The costumes, art direction, cinematography is regular. The sound design elevates the film and props the funny moments at times, especially, the altercations between Nana and Danny and Danny's capers in the hospital. The rest is a drag. The music is forgettable and so is the film.

KEY TO RATINGS:
Give away your ticket:
Watch it if you must:
Worth your while:
You'd be silly to miss it: