With World Cup 2007 as its backdrop, Milan Luthria's comedy "Hat Trick" that releases this Friday is hoping to cash in on the cricket fever sweeping the nation.

The film interweaves the lives of three cricket fanatics -- Danny Denzongpa, Paresh Rawal and Karan Kapoor.

The first track focuses on the strange friendship between Dr. Satyajeet Chavan (Nana Patekar) and Madhav Anna (Danny). They are completely opposite in nature.

While Madhav is a veteran cricketer devoted to the game, Chavan hates the game so much so that if someone dares to talk cricket in front of him he kicks him or her out of his hospital.

The second track revolves around Saby (Kunal) and Kashmira (Rimi Sen), a young married couple. Cricket plays the villain in their love life, thanks to Saby's obsession with the game. He is so mad about cricket that he prefers spending time in front of his TV rather than pay attention to his seductive wife.

But Saby is stumped when Kashmira, after a crash course in cricket, is clean bowled by love for Dhoni. Then commences Saby's relentless fielding to outwit his wife's obsession for the longhaired cricketer.

Last but not the least is Hemu Patel (Paresh), a Britain-based Gujarati. He is a janitor, a cricket maniac and an illegal immigrant. A victim of racism, Hemu is ready to give his right hand to obtain British citizenship.

There were eight releases last week - a mixed bag of Hollywood and Bollywood films - but none scored well at the ticket window.

This is director Luthria's second comedy after "Taxi No. 9211" and he has once again roped in his favourite Nana. Going by the film's promos, the actor should manage to tickle the funny bone with his unconventional comic performance once again.