Hera Pheri (film series)

Hera Pheri (2000)

Directed by Priyadarshan starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal,and Tabu as Raju, Shyam and Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, and Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar respectively. The story of this film is based on the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking. The film received average response upon release, however due to a positive word of mouth, the film's collection speeded up and became one of the biggest box office earners of the time. While the film's success, became a turning point for Akshay Kumar's career, enormous praise was given for Paresh Rawal's comic timing, for which he won a lot of film awards, including the IIFA Filmfare award for the best comedian. It has become a cult classic among the Indian audience.

Phir Hera Pheri (2006)

The story of this film continues from the previous film. Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal reprises their roles. Bipasha Basu and Rimi Sen were new additions in this film. The film was directed by Neeraj Vora. Like it's prequel, Hera Pheri 2 became a huge success, with huge praise given to Akshay Kumar's acting prowess and Paresh Rawal's humour. It became one of the biggest milestone's in Akshay Kumar's career and ended his then, dry run at the box office. It continues to be a cult classic among the Hindi audience and is regarded as one of the best made sequels ever in Indian cinema. a

Production for Hera Pheri 3 (TBA)

After a long delay, production of Hera Pheri 3 began in 2014. Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal will reprise their roles from previous films as Raju, Shyam and Baburao respectively. Hera Pheri 3 is scheduled to release in 2017.

The film's production has been especially difficult. When the film was announced, Rawal and Kumar elected not to reprise their roles as Baburao and Raju, respectively, and were replaced by John Abraham, Nana Patekar and Abhishek Bachchan. At one point, the film had been cancelled entirely, but shooting eventually began in 2014. In May 2016, both Abraham and Bachchan left, the latter's departure being particularly acrimonious. Shortly after Bachchan's departure, Kumar returned, reuniting the original trio. In addition to the departures of the two actors, Shetty had briefly left the production, citing the unprofessional atmosphere, and director Neeraj Vora was replaced by Ahmed Khan. Apart from this trio, it is said that Abhishek Bachchan would be joining the film, in a supporting cast. Although, his entry has been controversial and spurred a lot of negative voice from the audience and critics, the director has confirmed that " he would be playing a significant character in the film". The film is expected to ring the cash registers in the box office, due to Akshay Kumar's vast fandom and his recent blockbuster run. Paresh Rawal's reunion with Kumar will be one of the filmhood's biggest and most successive collaboration. On 18th of May, Sunil Shetty confirmed that the production for the movie will continue as soon as Neeraj Vora is declared fit. It is still however, unclear if Akshay Kumar and Ahmed Khan will be a part of Hera Pheri 3.