Milan Luthria startsHat Trick

By: Joginder Tuteja, IndiaFM
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Milan Luthria is back from his location hunt for his upcoming film Hat Trick and is all charged up to begin shooting. So how do the plans look from here? "We have finalized London as the place for shooting abroad while Wai [Maharashtra] is the setting for shooting in India. We begin shooting with Paresh Rawal in London from 1st November onwards. We shoot there for 15 days and then return to India where we wrap up the shooting at the end of 1st week of December", he says with clockwork precision.

How about the casting of the film? First it was Rimmi Sen as the lead heroine but last heard you were thinking of other alternatives too. "Yes, we still need to finalize the two heroines and that's because we are still working on the script, which should be completed in next 10 days. By the way, we have closed on the two British actors that we wanted after auditioning them. They are leading character artists there. We are still looking at casting a British Asian girl in the age group of 20-25 for the role of Paresh's daughter."

How is the music shaping up? "The work on music has now begin and we are in process of coming up with some really exciting tunes", he discloses. Well, Pritam? The guy does come up with a chartbuster tune in each of his films but isn't he wary about the fact that a song or two may be....errrr...'inspired'? He defends by saying, "See, I get to hear about him getting inspired or plagiarizing from other people but personally I haven't witnessed it myself. So, in that sense I don't have any issues around that since I am sure he will be coming up with something interesting. The songs in the film are going to be funny and though there is going to be just a little lip synch to the songs, they will form an integral part of the background score".

Ok, so with the film's shoot now just being a few days away, what really excites him about this project? "That all my actors are doubly excited about the film's shoot to begin", he replies promptly! "Paresh is genuinely excited about his role. In fact when I was assistant to Mahesh Bhatt, I interacted a lot with him. He was a regular with them and featured in number of films by Bhatts like 'Tamanna', 'Sir' etc. We used to discuss then that one day we would work together. He was also supposed to be there in 'Deewar - Let's Bring Our Heroes Home' but unfortunately it didn't work out. With Naseer it's an old friendship and I must maintain that he is a chilled out guy himself."

Common belief is that Hat Trick revolves around cricket. How much truth does that hold? "Well, partially. The film does have a backdrop of cricket but doesn't revolve around it completely. The film is more about human emotions rather than talking about people who play cricket or are connected to cricket in any ways, like sponsors, coaches, officials etc. Let me give you an example of Jerry Maguire. It does have a football angle but is it centered on football? No! It is about this guy Jerry who is a sports manager and that's it.", he says with a matter of fact.

OK, please carry on, we are listening! In a single breath he reveals, "Hat Trick is such a unique idea that currently we don't want to disclose it at all! The film is neither about cricket nor a spoof on it. It is a lovely, remarkable script which gives great opportunities to the actors starring in it. Now, look at Paresh. He himself has admitted that he is getting repetitive and that's the reason why he is taking this film as a good opportunity to genuinely do something new. He is so talented and that's the reason he wants to raise the bar. Yes, his character does have a comic angle to it but then that is complimented by a strong emotional and patriotic undercurrent. As a low class NRI Gujarati, he is certainly going to rock in the film".

And how about Nana? Audience would be looking at his Taxi No. 9211 with hawk eyes to see if he can recreate the magic. "Yes, you are right and this is why the aim is to give Nana something that he hasn't done before. His role in the film is something that is entertaining and something very new. Same holds good for Naseer who is simply phenomenal in whatever he does but it's just not fair that the current roles he is doing haven't been pushing him much. With Hat Trick, I want to give him some meat to act on, just as was the case in his diverse films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Tridev or Sir! Believe me, with a cast like this and a script in hand, there are going to be fireworks abound," he says while wrapping up the conversation!