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World Cup fever has set in as far as the news channels and companies spending huge money to market thier products are concerned . Except for the first match between Pakistan and West Indies, I could not feel any urge to watch the rest of them so far. India will play her first match tomorrow ( March 17th) that too with a miniscule team like Bermuda. Team India does have a knock out match with Sri Lanka on 23rd March, but crackers might not come out of the closets before 27th March, when Super 8 encounters will start.

So, the fever 104 still has to rise. UTV, a good name in promoting its films, has faltered this time with its time schedule. It has released its new film 'Hattrick', an amalgam of cricket passion and idiocy, about a fortnight before the ideal date . Cricket and cinema go hand in hand in India. If cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil and Syed Kirmani have done lengthy roles on big screen, film stars especially females one, don't hide their crush on cricketers.

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Sangeeta Bijlani got married to Azaharuddin when he was at the pinnacle of his game . Kim Sharma is rumored dating Yuvraj Singh these days, and Isha Sharvani has caught attention of pacer Zaheer Khan. Back to basics, and to 'Hattrick', the new film from Milan Lutharia and Nana Patekar post 'Taxi NO. 9211', the third common element of the chemistry is Milan's writer Rajat Arora, the weakest link among three for 'Hattrick'. Let's analyze.

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Hope you remember that during the last World Cup 'Stumped' was released to cash on the cricket fever, but it got dumped in the stores of distributors. Besides, a film like 'Awwal Number' despite starring Aamir Khan suffered the same fate. Aamir did clinch the big deal in 'Lagaan', also based on cricket, but the sports and the films don't gel well with each other in Hindi cinema as for as their stories are concerned. So, Milan Lutharia makes his writer Rajat Arora write a film that is on cricket but not entirely.

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While talking to the media, Milan tries his best to establish that 'Hattrick' is not a sports movie, but calls it a fun movie. Thus, the confusion started from the film's owner. Incidentally, both the filmmaker and the audience were confused; Milan about the way to promote it and the viewers about how to treat it ( a sports or a comedy). Nana Patekar and Danny Denzongpa is the opening pair of the film. While Nana plays Doctor Satyajeet Chavan, interested in life and hating cricket. On the contrary, David Abraham (Danny), who eats, drinks and sleeps cricket.

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Ironically, David becomes Satyajeet's patient. This is one story of 'Hattrick'. There are two more stories. Oh, yes, after Ram Gopal Varma, Nikhil Advani and Reema Kagti, it is Milan's turn to try multiple story concept for his film. 'Hattrick' means one down two more to go. The second story is of Hemu (Paresh Rawal), an NRI who is yet to get the coveted status officially. He lives the pain of racism in London but also loves his native place. The third story is of Karishma (Rimi Sen obsessed with cricketer Dhoni) and his husband Saby (Kunal Kohli). The doctor plans a fake world cup and it binds the rest of the two stories together. Isn't it filmy?

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After watching a good film like 'Taxi No. 9211', the viewers expected more from Milan. And, look what he has delivered ; like watching a match between Bermuda and Holland teams. Even in World Cup both the teams are placed in separate groups. Milan Lutharia makes us believe that he is going to set a good film on screen with its opening sequences. The power play starts just after that and the people watch the game with patience.

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Drinks are ordered in the interval, going is smooth and then it's time for slog overs. The viewers in the cinema hall like cricket fans expect some fire and crackers like fours and sixes to happen on screen. But Milan's teams succumb to pressure; they even lose their opening run rate and most of the balls go duck. Come on Milan, we needed a better film than 'Taxi No. 9211'. The film's fizz settles down in second half and nothing exciting happens on screen. The hot chemistry of Rimi and Kunal goes down and Paresh Rawal fails to deliver his best lines.

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Danny Denzongpa is welcome on screen with claps after a long hiatus in Sikkim where he runs a beer factory. But the best among these is aamcha Nana Patekar. This is among some of the best performances of Nana over the years. In fact, he reminds us of 'Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman' and of 'Karantiveer'. He does his job best, gets good support from his partner Danny, but the middle order and tale enders fail miserably.

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Now, the big question arises : Who is the weakest link in 'Hattrick'? If a director gets credit for the success than he should also hold discredit for the failure of a movie. Thus, Milan Lutharia is the culprit for this below ordinary film. 'Hattrick' by its concept could have been a marvelous film and the UTV Motion Pictures that is going international with co-production of 'The Happening' with Manoj Night Shyamlan must strengthen its base, before tumbling down under pressure from the viewers.

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Post 'Rang De Basanti' there has been no big buzz from UTV and to keep itself in front runner position, it should avoid spending money on half cooked ideas like 'Hattrick'. Except cinematography, nothing much is mentionable in 'Hattrick' . The film has mediocre music, irritating setting and very poor narration. Hence, not a big innings expected from this film on the pitch of box office. How is that?