Hat Trick Movie Reviews

Good performances. Sensitive portrayal of situations. Light hearted moments. Sheer fun. This is how one would describe HAT TRICK which is simply as original as it gets. And yes, we mean it.

Otherwise have you ever seen before a fantasy for a cricketer going so wild that it may make a newly-wed-very-much-in-love couple head towards splits Ville? Or a doctor arranging for a staged World Cup final match (on DVD of course) so that he could save the life of his patient? Or the dilemma of a middle aged man who, in a foreign land, thinks of the nationals out there as racists, when he actually is the biggest of hem all?

Each of the three stories are quite simple. There is a young Punjabi couple [Kunal Kapoor and Rimmi Sen] who get married after being in love. The only trouble in their what-could-have-been-a-blissful-life? The World Cup is on and the guy wants to cheer for the Indian cricket team on TV even on his 'suhaagraat'.

So on a friend's advice, Rimmi does what anyone who is loosing may do. Join them if you can't beat them. And there she is, wearing Indian team blue T-shirt and munching popcorn with her nice-n-cute 'sardar' while enjoying 4s and 6s.

Sab khush? Nahi! Because now the post match winning celebration romp in the bed sounds of moans and groans of Dhoni for Rimmi! And that's because she has fallen in love with the super sportsman!

From marital discord, there is a different kind of chord building up somewhere else. The one between a patient with kidney problems [Danny Denzongpa] and a doctor [Nana Patekar] who is worried more about the lack of beds in his hospital than spending moments at the dinner table with his wife and son.

The most delightful story of all, it is the kind of Tom & Jerry show. Jerry is Danny who plays an ex-cricketer; someone who hasn't lost his passion and wants to watch World Cup. And the challenge he puts before Tom, who happens to be his doc-in-charge is that it would be cricket that would heal him rather than medicines.

Another challenge is to bring a smile on the face of doc. Does he succeed? Very much, because gradually the light hearted full-of-life nature of this very-much-dying patient rubs upon everyone in the hospital [something on the lines of MUNNABHAI MBBS situation] and the doc was no exception.

In the same time period in London, a lower middle class Indian [Paresh Rawal] lives with his wife and a teenage daughter while working as a janitor on an airport. Ashamed about his social status and constantly trying to get a British citizenship, he is the most humane of all.

Not a perfect person by any means, he lives a double standard life by hating the Brits but also trying to appease them to be accepted. So while he accuses the white skin folks of discriminating him, he too gets into the same mould when he encounters his daughter of having an affair with a Black boy!

A follower of cricket, he loves to cheer for the Indian cricket team even if he is surrounded by Brits all around. But when it comes to a surprise check, he replaces the posters of Sachin with Queen Elizabeth! His dreams are shattered when his citizenship is rejected by the British government. And that leads him to something - Introspection.

A short-n-sweet 2 hour film, it doesn't even have a 2 minutes at a stretch when you feel that there is something unwanted happening on screen. Everything is pretty much justified, convincing and required to tell the three tales and keep them moving along seamlessly.

Milan and Rajat ensure that their film doesn't get branded into an overtly comic or dramatic outing. There is a right mix as laughs come with as much ease as tears, something that has been a hallmark of MUNNABHAI series. Some of the most notable of them are:

a) Scene in a restaurant where Kunal and Rimmi introduce their parents to each other
b) Danny's frequent questioning to Nana on why he doesn't seem happy in life
c) Danny making Nana realize the values of relationships just before the interval. The best one of all.
d) Pre-climax when Kunal's parents tell him about the secret of a happy marriage, Paresh's wife showing him the mirror about his own sense of racism and Nana breaking down in front of his wife asking her about where did he go wrong.
e) Entire World Cup match faking and Kunal's strip tease in the final

Nana and Danny lead the pack when it comes to performances. Undoubtedly one of their best ever performances so far in their illustrious career, the two steal the show and keep the film together. Danny is a delight to watch, especially when one had got used to see him in mostly negative roles in majority of his films. Here, he gets the smiles coming every time he appears on screen and makes him the most adorable of the lot. On the other hand, in the entire film Nana shouts only once, and that too when he is genuinely disturbed about the condition of Danny.

Paresh Rawal gets to sink his teeth into a non-comic role after a long time and his is the most emotional character in the film. For a role like this, it was required to have an actor who has seen the world and Paresh fits to the T here.

Kunal Kapoor is good, especially in the first half, in a role that didn't demanded a pleasing personality. On the other hand Rimmi looks her sexiest till date and delivers yet another natural performance. She sizzles, especially in her act of seduction in the remix version of 'Jab Chaye Tera Jadoo'.

Good part about the film is that even all the supporting actors get an impressive dialogue or two to mouth. So whether it is Prateeksha Lonkar, the couple playing Kunal's parents, Paresh's wife and daughter, Nana's son or even Harsha Bhogle (in a special appearance), they justify their presence in the film.

Pritam's music is very good on ears, especially the number 'Ek Pal' that runs in the background throughout. Nirmal Jani's cinematography is decent while the sets, especially the ones that make for Kunal/Rimmi paradise are well done.

Director Milan Luthria and writer Rajat Arora spin a tale (or rather tales) that do no attempt to run in parallel and then culminate into a common ending. Well, enough of those in recent times. Heck, these characters don't even meet in their lives (except 3 of them in a split second crossing over in a restaurant). Instead, in different parts of the world, they have their own stories running with the only common factor being the cricket connection.

And this is where Milan and Rajat score a 'hat-trick'.