Actor Ali Fazal has opened up on not being a part of Fukrey 3. Ali portrays the character Zafar in Mrighdeep Singh Lamba's slacker comedy franchise. The makers recently revealed the release date of Fukrey 3 with a poster. It teased the return of Richa Chadha, Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Manjot Singh and Pankaj Tripathi. However, Ali was missing from sight in the much-awaited team-up.

Explaining his departure from Fukrey 3, Ali said in a statement, "So Zafar aayega ya nahi? Sab yahi puch rahe hain baar baar.sorry saathiyon, iss baari nahi! Zafar bhai ko kabhi kabhi Guddu bhaiya bhi banna padhta hai. Aur do universes overlap ho jaate hain kabhi kabhi. (So is Zafar coming or not? Everyone is asking this again and again. Sorry friends, not this time! Zafar bhai has to sometimes become Guddu Bhaiya (in Mirzapur). And the two universes get overlapped."

Ali said that he would have liked to be a part of Fukrey 3 but the timing and schedules didn't work out. He assured he will be back in the franchise after a small detour. 

"Once a fukra always a fukra so i am around.  . . But I won’t be coming on screen for the third outing of the Fukras, Bholi and Panditji! I would have wanted to be part of it but time and schedules didn’t allow me to.  I will be back in the future at some juncture, maybe sooner than you expect. Zafar will be back after a small detour to entertain you guys!” wrote Ali.

Fukrey 3 will release in theatres on September 7 this year. The film has been directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment.