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)[2] 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 Babu (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).
| Phir Hera Pheri | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Neeraj Vora |
| Written by | Neeraj Vora |
| Produced by | Firoz A. Nadiadwala |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Nana Patekar |
| Cinematography | Velraj |
| Edited by | Diwakar P. Bhonsle Virendra Gharse |
| Music by | Songs: Himesh Reshammiya Background Score: Surinder Sodhi |
Production company | Base Industries Group |
| Distributed by | Base Industries Group Shemaroo Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 153 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹18 crore[1] |
| Box office | ₹69.12 crore[1] |
Upon its release on 9 June 2006, the film was a major commercial success,[3][4] becoming the 8th highest grosser of the year. Over the years, the film has attained a cult status and significant fan following across generations owing to Kumar's comic timing as well as its supporting casts like Rawal, Lever and Yadav. It is now considered a milestone in comedy films, as well as one of the best sequels ever made. The film is loosely based on the British film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).[5]
Plot
editHera Pheri ended with the trio of Raju (Akshay Kumar), Ghanshyam, also known as Shyam (Suniel Shetty), and Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (Paresh Rawal) finding themselves wealthy beyond their imagination, and Phir Hera Pheri tells the story of what happens after they become wealthy. The film begins with a prologue by Nana Patekar bringing the audience up to reason, stating that each has suffered a personal loss despite their new riches. Raju lost his widowed mother, Savitri Devi (Sulabha Arya), from an illness; Shyam lost his only love, Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar (Tabu), in an accident; and Baburao, having nothing to lose in the first place, lost the little traces of common sense that he did possess. In the present, the trio has three cars, a lavish mansion with a huge swimming pool (that Baburao is yet to familiarise himself with), and a very easy life while splurging on various luxuries. However, things take a turn when Raju receives a phone call on Baburao's old telephone with a scheme to double his wealth in 21 days. He meets with an attractive young woman named Anuradha Munjal (Bipasha Basu), who is the manager of an agency called "Laxmi Chit Fund" in the business district of Mumbai, and convinces Shyam and Baburao as well to go along with it. Raju first arranges for ₹30 lakhs from Shyam and Baburao, and then convinces a simpleton, Pappu (Rajpal Yadav), to contribute the remaining balance of ₹20 lakhs, so that he can come up with the minimum investment of ₹1 crore, which Anuradha has promised to double. After 21 days, the trio visits the Laxmi Chit Fund office to collect their doubled wealth of ₹2 crores, only to discover that Anuradha and her company have disappeared. To make matters worse, they do not even have possession of their mansion, which Raju had already sold off in order to arrange the amount of ₹50 lakhs. Realising that Anuradha was a conwoman and that they are now penniless, the devastated trio is now forced to reside in a shanty room in a chawl (Indian tenement), and Anjali Patekar (Rimi Sen) is the daughter of the paralysed chawl accountant, who also arrives to collect the rent.
Meanwhile, Raju mysteriously discovers Anuradha at a dance bar one day, but is later unable to find her when he returns there with Shyam and Baburao, much to their dismay. Elsewhere, Pappu arrives at the trio's former mansion to take his portion of the money, only to find that Raju has left and the mansion is now in the possession of a Parsi gun collector (Dinesh Hingoo). Later, Pappu happens to meet Raju, and pretends to be sympathetic on learning about the scam. He tricks Raju and brings the trio to Tiwari Seth (Sharat Saxena), a lisping, but dreaded underworld gangster, whom Pappu had borrowed the money from. Pappu informs Tiwari Seth that the trio has taken the money, and Tiwari Seth threatens to kill them if they do not pay up the amount on time. However, the trio manages to escape while being taken home by Tiwari Seth's henchmen, and is about to leave the city when Raju remembers that he owes money to Anjali. The trio heads over to her house and is surprised to find that she is Pappu's sister. Tiwari Seth's henchmen arrive and kidnap Anjali because Pappu has not returned the money. Feeling guilty as he is the one who trapped Anjali, Raju decides to return to Tiwari Seth and get her released, but Shyam and Baburao refuse to leave without them and decide to stay as well. The trio returns to Tiwari Seth and he releases Anjali, but orders them to pay him back ₹40 lakhs in three days, or else they will themselves be killed. At home, Raju overhears their chawl neighbour, Munna Bhai (Johnny Lever), who is also a gangster, planning to steal drugs from a third gangster, Nanji Bhai (Milind Gunaji). Raju wrongly assumes them to be talking about stealing money, and comes up a plan for the trio to steal from Munna Bhai's gang in turn. Meanwhile, Tiwari Seth seeks Pappu's help in stealing a collection of 17 antique guns from the Parsi gun collector, who is the new owner of the trio's former mansion. However, Tiwari Seth's henchmen betray him and sell the three most valuable guns (worth crores each) locally to Kachra Seth (Manoj Joshi), a scrap dealer who also deals in stolen goods, and the trio, in turn, purchases the three guns locally from Kachra Seth for their mission.
After Munna Bhai's gang steals from Nanji Bhai's gang and returns home, the trio wears clown costumes in order to hide their identities and uses the guns to successfully steal from them. However, the theft contains only drugs and no cash, but Raju informs Shyam and Baburao that the drugs are worth at least ₹3 crores. The trio believes that if they can sell the drugs to Kachra Seth and pay off the loan to Tiwari Seth, they can also become wealthy again. While offering the drugs sample to Kachra Seth, Raju meets Anjali, who discovers that Raju offered himself as collateral to Tiwari Seth in order to save her life and joins hands with him. Subsequently, the trio is surprised to find Anuradha being pursued by some criminals and rescue her. Anuradha reveals to the trio and Anjali that the criminals were led by Chhota Chetan (Razak Khan), the close aide of Kabira (Gulshan Grover, who was the gangster in the previous film and is now in prison), and that she is the sister of Kabira's divorced former gang member, Radha (Kashmira Shah), who is also now in prison. The entire scam of the Laxmi Chit Fund company was created by Chhota Chetan in order to seek revenge on the trio, and the only reason Anuradha agreed to it was that Chhota Chetan had kidnapped the young daughter of Radha. Anuradha converted the obtained money into diamonds to pay the ransom, but escaped with them once she discovered that her niece had already escaped from Chhota Chetan. She gave the diamonds to her uncle, Abdul Chacha (Bomie E. Dotiwala), who hid them under the decoration of a circus train (named "Kook-Doo-Koo"), and was later killed by Chhota Chetan's pursuing henchmen. After learning this, the trio and Anjali join hands with Anuradha and plan to recover the diamonds hidden by Abdul Chacha together. Meanwhile, Kachra Seth happens to take Raju's drugs sample to Nanji Bhai, who identifies it to have been stolen from himself. He forces Kachra Seth to make the trio return the drugs to him in exchange for commission. Elsewhere, Munna Bhai's henchmen find the remaining drugs stolen by the trio at their house and take them back along with the three guns. Tiwari Seth's henchmen also reach to collect the money at the same time the trio returns with Anjali and Anuradha, whom Tiwari Seth's henchmen then kidnap.
After planning on using fake suitcases to trick Kachra Seth and Nanji Bhai into giving them money and then pay off Tiwari Seth's loan with it, the trio summons both Tiwari Seth and Kachra Seth and Nanji Bhai to arrive at the Great Royal Circus, with Pappu, Munna Bhai and Chhota Chetan overhearing them and heading to the circus as well. The Parsi gun collector too sees Munna Bhai with his guns and follows him to the circus, while the group of actors who drop the trio off to the circus also learn about the money there and decide to follow. The trio initially tricks Kachra Seth and Nanji Bhai with the fake suitcases and takes the bag of cash, which they open to discover that the banknotes are fake and contain the photographs of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. With no other choice, the trio decides to give the fake money to Tiwari Seth, hoping he will assume that it is real. Tiwari Seth does so and releases Anuradha and Anjali, but after Kachra Seth and Nanji Bhai discover the fake suitcase, they confront the trio and get into an argument with Baburao, who accidentally reveals that the money is also fake. At the same time, Pappu, Munna Bhai, Chhota Chetan, the Parsi gun collector and the group of actors reach the circus as well with the motive to obtain the drugs. During a prolonged cat-and-mouse pursuit in the circus premises, the trio takes the drugs and tries to escape from all the criminals, while Anuradha is reunited with her niece. Subsequently, everyone learns about the diamonds hidden by Abdul Chacha and begins searching for them, but all the diamonds and drugs are thrown down all over the ground in public by a gorilla. Soon, Raju summons the police to the scene and Tiwari Seth, Pappu, Kachra Seth, Nanji Bhai, Munna Bhai, Chhota Chetan and the Parsi gun collector are all arrested for their crimes, while the trio escapes from the circus in a jeep along with Anuradha, Anjali and Anuradha's niece. Later, Raju escapes by himself with the bag containing the Parsi gun collector's guns, not knowing that the bag also contains Pappu's mobile phone. Before being taken away by the police, Pappu informs Shyam and Baburao that the guns currently with Raju are worth ₹6 crores. The film ends on a cliffhanger as Raju, unaware of the value of the three guns, attempts to throw them into the sea for good, with Pappu's mobile phone (which he had discovered earlier and held into his mouth) ringing as Shyam and Baburao desperately attempt to call Raju through a payphone.[6]
Cast
edit- Akshay Kumar as Rajesh "Raju" Rathod
- Suniel Shetty as Ghanshyam "Shyam" Tripathi
- Paresh Rawal as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte
- Bipasha Basu as Anuradha Munjal
- Rimi Sen as Anjali
- Sharat Saxena as Tiwari Seth
- Johnny Lever as Munna Bhai
- Rajpal Yadav as Pappu (Anjali's brother)
- Manoj Joshi as Kachra Seth
- Milind Gunaji as Nanji Bhai
- Razak Khan as Chhota Chetan (Kabira's sidekick)
- Ravi Kishan as Chhote (Tiwari's sidekick)
- Suresh Menon as Peter (Nanji Bhai's most trusted sidekick and Munna Bhai's secret informer)
- Dinesh Hingoo as Parsi gun collector
- Tiku Talsania as Police Officer (special appearance)
- Javed Khan Amrohi as a Khetwadi Police Chowki constable
- Gulshan Grover as Gangster Kabira (archive footage from Hera Pheri)
- Kashmira Shah as Kabira's gang member and Anuradha's sister (archive footage from Hera Pheri)
- Sunil Pal as Kishan
- Kiku Sharda as Kanji
- Viju Khote as Ravana from Ram-Leela, troupe member
- Madan Singh as Tiwari's tall henchman (voice dubbed by Shailendra Pandey)
- Manmouji as Ram-Leela troupe member
- Mukesh Ahuja as a circus magician
- Nana Patekar as a narrator
- Dia Mirza as an item girl in the song "Pyaar Ki Chatni" (special appearance)
- Neeraj Vora as a bus passenger speaking on the phone (special appearance)
- Ghanshyam Rohera as a bus conductor (special appearance)
- Tabu as Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar (archive footage from Hera Pheri)
Soundtrack
edit| Phir Hera Pheri | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 2006 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Label | T-Series |
| Producer | Himesh Reshammiya |
The music was composed by Himesh Reshammiya.[7] 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.[8]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Phir Hera Pheri" | Sonu Nigam, Shaan | 5:41 |
| 2. | "Dil De Diya" | Sunidhi Chauhan, Kunal Ganjawala, Arya | 6:15 |
| 3. | "Mujhko Yaad Sataye Teri" | Himesh Reshammiya | 4:38 |
| 4. | "Dil Naiyyo Maane Re" | Himesh Reshammiya, Tulsi Kumar | 4:51 |
| 5. | "Aye Meri Zohrajabeen" | Himesh Reshammiya | 5:23 |
| 6. | "Pyaar Ki Chatni" | Sunidhi Chauhan | 5:16 |
| Total length: | 32:04 | ||
Box office
editThe film received positive reviews from critics and earned ₹70 crore at the end of its theatrical run and it was a box-office blockbuster.[9]
Sequel
editA 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.[10]
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.[11][12][13]
On 21 February 2023, some reports shooting on a promo for Hera Pheri 3 with Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal had started.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b "Phir Hera Pheri – Movie". Box Office India.
- ^ "Exclusive: क्या फ़िर से बनेगी फिर हेरा फेरी". Jagran.
- ^ "We list down the most successful film franchises in Bollywood". Filmfare.com. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ Sudhakaran, Sreeju. "Snatch director Guy Ritchie is remaking Aladdin and he wants Indians to play the leads! Bollywood, are you listening?". Bollywoodlife. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "15 Years of 'Phir Hera Pheri' and We Are Still Laughing". RollingStone. 11 June 2021.
- ^ "Phir Hera Pheri - THE GREATEST COMEDY MOVIE". Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ^ "Himesh Reshammiya - Phir Hera Pheri". Discogs. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ^ "Music Hits 2000–2009 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010.
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (9 June 2006). "Phir Hera Pheri Box Office Collection | India | Day Wise | Box Office - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Actor Neeraj Vora in coma for last 10 months, finally shows signs of recovery". Hindustan Times. 29 August 2017.
- ^ Scroll Staff. "New 'Hera Pheri' film to reunite Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal". Scroll.in. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "'हेरा फेरी 3': ख़त्म हुआ इंतज़ार, फ़िर गुदगुदाने आ रहे हैं बाबू भैया, राजू और श्याम". Zee News Hindi. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ ScoopWhoop (24 May 2018). "Hera Pheri Is Returning for a Third Installment & I Hope Bollywood Does Not Mess Another Classic". ScoopWhoop. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal shoot for Hera Pheri 3 promo: Report". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 22 February 2023.