Suniel Shetty opened up recently about Paresh Rawal’s exit from Hera Pheri 3 and said that the film cannot happen without the veteran actor. Paresh recently confirmed that he has opted out of the third part in the popular comedy-franchise helmed by Priyadarshan.

Paresh claimed that his co-stars were aware of his decision to exit from the film. However, Suniel was shocked when he heard it during the interviews of his next film Kesari Veer: Legends of Somnath. “Athiya and Ahan sent the news to me, asking ‘papa what is this?’ And I was here doing my interviews, and I felt like holy s***,” he told India Today.

In an interview with ANI, Suniel said, “It cannot happen. 100 per cent cannot happen without Paresh Rawal. It can have 1 per cent chance without me and Akshay, but 100% can’t happen without Paresh ji. No, it doesn’t. Raju and Shyam, if they’re not hammered by Babu here, it doesn’t work.”

As per a report in Hindustan Times, Akshay Kumar’s production house Cape of Good Films sued Paresh claiming Rs 25 crore in damages for exiting the third part of the franchise after signing a legal contract and starting shoot for the film. “Paresh displayed a blatant disregard for professional integrity or commercial morality. If he wanted to not do the film, he should have said so before signing the legal contract, accepting the signing amount and making the producer spend so much money on the shoot,” said the report.

Earlier, Paresh took to X to confirm his exit from the film and said, “I wish to put it on record that my decision to step away from Hera Pheri 3 was not due to creative differences. I hold immense love, respect, and faith in Mr. Priyadarshan the film director.”

There has been no official reaction from Akshay Kumar in this regard.