Films with cricket backdrop hit screens as cup fever sweeps India

New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) As another edition of the "king of all cricket tournaments" gets underway in the Carribean islands, cricket fever seems to have gripped the whole of India with activities in all spheres taking a backseat to discussions on sport.

So much so that even Bollywood, one of the two greatest passions of the Indians along with cricket, finds itself "piggy-backing" on cricket to remain ensconsed in public consciousness during the months of March and April.

The nearly two month duration of the World Cup will witness release of a series of films made either in the backdrop of the cricket World Cup or the game of Cricket.

In the vanguard of films owing their "inspiration" from the game of cricket is Milan Luthria's 'Hattrick', which hits cinema screens all over India today even as Indians begin their quest for the coveted World Cup with their inaugural match with Bangladesh.

Featuring accomplished actors like Nana Patekar, Danny and Paresh Rawal along with the promising 'kid on the block' Kunal Kapoor (of 'Rang De basanti' fame) and the glamorous Rimi Sen, 'Hattrick' uses the cricket World Cup as a metaphor for the lives of five different individuals.

Speaking at a press meet in the Capital, the film's director Milan Luthria said 'Hattrick' was borne out of his passion for the game of cricket.

''I am an ardent follower of the game of cricket. The idea of making a film about five individuals whose lives are in some way connected to India's fortunes in the 2007 World Cup occurred to me about one year ago,''Milan Luthria said.

''It occurred to me that this would be the first World Cup with a huge, almost unprecedented, media presence. Through this film, I wanted to capture the huge excitement surrounding the World Cup in India as well as its overrising impact on lives of people in the subcontinent,''the filmmaker said.

Admitting that the huge marketing opportunity provided by the huge public attention that the World Cup attracts in India was one of the reasons for basing the film in the backrop of the tournament, Milan said,''we had fixed a deadline for the release of the film in March, when the World cup fever begins to catch on. Doing so would invariably help to catch audience attention given the huge public attention that the World Cup attracts in India.'' Speaking on the occasion, actor Kunal Kapoor (of 'Rang De Basanti' fame) said,''the film is not about cricket. Rather, it has the Cricket World Cup as a backdrop for the lives of the five otagonists.'' 'Hattrick' is the story of five characters - a doctor Satyajeet Chavan (Nana Patekar) who hates cricket, a leg spinner David Abraham (Danny), a janitor Hemu Patel (Paresh Rawal) whose single preoccupation in life is securing a British citizenship, a cricket freak (Kunal Kapoor) and his wife Kashmira (Rimi Sen) - whose life is connected with cricket, to be specific, with the World Cup 2007.

Using the tournament as a backdrop, 'Hattrick' takes a look at what happens to six lives during the span of the tournament - the sixth being the Indian Cricket team in the quest for the World Cup.

''The life of the five characters is in a way synonymous with cricket, specially the World Cup. Each of the five protagonists need to pull out a magic trick from the hat - something that they have never done before and something that must be done now, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds,''Milan said.

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