Phir Hera Pheri

About the film

Phir Hera Pheri (translation: Foul Play Once Again) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy film written and directed by Neeraj Vora. The film serves as the sequel to Hera Pheri (2000) and the second installment of the Hera Pheri franchise. The film stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal (reprising their roles from the previous film), Bipasha Basu, Rimi Sen, Sharat Saxena, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Milind Gunaji, Manoj Joshi and Razak Khan.

Following the events of the previous film, a twist of fate changes the lives of Raju (Kumar), Shyam (Shetty) and Baburao (Rawal) when they get cheated by a fraudster, Anuradha (Basu). They must now find another way to repay the money borrowed from a dreaded gangster, Tiwari (Saxena).

Plot

The film opens with a prologue bringing the audience up to speed on the story, stating that each has suffered a personal loss despite their new riches. Ghanshyam alias Shyam, lost his only love Anuradha Shivshanker Panikar in an accident, Raju lost his ailing mother, and Baburao Ganpatrao Apte having nothing to lose in the first place - lost the little traces of common sense that he did possess.

The three men are living a lavish life in a massive mansion and splurging on various luxuries. One day, Raju hears about an idea for doubling his wealth in 21 days from a con woman, Anuradha Munjal, who is claiming to be a bank manager, and convinces Shyam and Baburao to go along with it. Raju first arranges for ₹30 lakh from Shyam and Baburao and then a further ₹50 lakh by selling their bungalow. He convinces a small-time goon, Pappu, to contribute the remaining balance of ₹20 lakh so that he can come up with the minimum deposit of ₹1 crore, which Anuradha has promised to double.

Three weeks after investing the money, the three of them discover they were duped and are now in financial ruin. As they no longer own their bungalow, the trio have to live in a chawl (tenement). Pappu arrives at the bungalow the next day to pick up his portion of the money only to find the bungalow occupied by a Parsi gun collector. Pappu is now in trouble because he had borrowed money from a lisping but dreaded gangster, Tiwari, who will kill him if he doesn't pay up. When he comes across Raju, he pretends to be sympathetic upon hearing that they were scammed. He tricks him and brings the three to Tiwari, who tells them they have to come up with the money or else they will be killed. As they are escorted home by Tiwari's goons, the three manage to escape. The trio are about to leave the city when Raju remembers that he owes rent to Anjali, the chawl accountant's daughter. They head over to her house and are surprised to find that she is Pappu's sister. Tiwari's goons show up and kidnap Anjali because Pappu had not returned the money. Feeling guilty that he is the one who got Anjali in trouble, Raju decides that he will go to Tiwari and try to get her freed. Shyam and Baburao refuse to leave without him and decide to stay as well. The three go back to Tiwari to ask him to release Anjali, and Tiwari tells them to bring the money in order to release Anjali.

Soundtrack

According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 10,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fifteenth highest-selling.

Box office

The film earned ₹70 crore at the end of its theatrical run.

Sequel

A sequel titled Hera Pheri 3 is planned, but the production was postponed after director Neeraj Vora died on 14 December 2017 after a prolonged illness. After the response from Firoz Nadiadwala, the sequel is under production and will be released soon.

On 23 May 2018, it was confirmed that Hera Pheri 3 will now be directed by Indra Kumar and star the same team of Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, and Paresh Rawal in the lead. It was reported that the film will be shot on a start-to-finish schedule and Kumar confirmed to The Indian Express that the film will be ready for release in the second half of 2019 (but it didn't release in 2019). The film will continue the story of the previous two. Later, Indra Kumar left the project for unknown reasons and confirmed that Priyadarshan, who directed the first movie, will return as the director of the third.

On 21 February 2023, some reports shooting on a promo for Hera Pheri 3 with Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal had started.

Key details