Hera Pheri 3 lands in legal trouble over franchise rights; makers of original approach Madras HC

Hera Pheri 3, the much-anticipated instalment of the Hera Pheri franchise starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal, has landed into legal woes yet again. Earlier, we had reported about Paresh Rawal initially exiting the film and then rejoining the cast after a legal settlement with the producers. Now, the copyright holders of the original have approached Madras High Court against Hera Pheri producers.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, GP Vijayakumar, MD of Seven Arts International, stated that he bought the rights of the film from Adithya Films, the original producers of the original film Ramji Rao Speaking (1989), in 2022. He said, “They informed me that Firoz Nadiadwala had been given the right to make one Hindi version of the film,” adding that Nadiadwala was not authorised to make a sequel or prequel, or use the characters. 

However, according to Seven Arts International, Nadiadwala breached the contract in 2006 when they decided to make a sequel to Hera Pheri, titled Phir Hera Pheri, before eventually transferring the franchise rights to Akshay Kumar’s production house Cape of Good Films, which is now the production banner for Hera Pheri 3.

To make matters worse, Nadiadwala allegedly did not inform Adithya Films. “When we approached actor Akshay Kumar for the next version in Hindi, that’s when we got to know that Nadiadwala has sold the rights to Akshay’s production house. We sent Nadiadwala a legal notice on how he could sell something he did not own. I had no option but to move the Court,” he said.