Phir Hera Pheri 3 to go on floors this year

Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal will be reuniting for a third instalment of their popular Hera Pheri comedy franchise. Titled Hera Pheri 3, the film will be produced by Firoz Nadiadwala and directed by Indra Kumar. The project will go on floors by the end of the year. Confirming the development, the director said, “If the news has come out, then it must be true. (Hera Pheri 3) is still a work in progress. Right now, I am gearing up for Total Dhamaal.”

The first Hera Pheri film was directed by Priyadarshan and released in 2000. Introducing the down-on-their-luck trio of Raju (Akshay Kumar), Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (Paresh Rawal) and Shyam (Suniel Shetty), the comedy heist film was a massive popular hit. It was remade from the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking, directed by the Siddiqui-Lal duo.

A second instalment, titled Phir Hera Pheri and directed by late actor-director Neeraj Vora, was released in 2006. The central plot of this film was adapted from Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar is awaiting the release of Kesari, a period war film based on the Battle of Saragarhi. Suniel Shetty, on the other hand, recently starred shooting for Priyadarshan's upcoming multi-lingual film, Marakkar: The Lion of the Arabian Sea. Paresh Rawal was last seen in Uri: The Surgical Strike.