Hera Pheri 3 Controversy Was A Public Stunt? Akshay Kumar Dismisses Speculation, Says, ‘It’s A Real Thing’

Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal starrer Hera Pheri franchise has been making headlines for quite some time now. As filmmaker Priyadarshan announced his return to the franchise and declared that he will be directing the third installment, weeks later Rawal quit the project due to various reasons. While many speculations about it all started floating on the internet, a certain section started wondering if all of it was a PR stunt. While things have been sorted between them, after much back and forth, Kumar has now commented on the speculation.

Talking to Hindustan Times about it all, Kumar dismissed the speculation and stated that it was not a publicity stunt since things had gotten legal. The actor had sued Rawal for Rs 25 crores, alleging unprofessional conduct and breach of contract related to Hera Pheri 3. Opening about it all, he told the media publication, “Nahi, yeh publicity stunt nahi hai. The things went legal, so when legal things are involved, we cannot call it a publicity stunt; it is a real thing.”

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The Free Press Journal quoted the 57-year-old actor saying, “But ab sab kuch thik ho gaya hai. Very soon, some kind of announcement can come. Yes, there were some ups and downs. But now everything is solved, and we are back together, and we have always been together. Yes, that’s it!”

For those who don’t know, the Hera Pheri franchise sees Akshay Kumar essay the role of Raju, Paresh Rawal as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte aka Babu Bhaiya and Suniel Shetty as Shyam. While Hera Pheri (2000) also starred Tabu and Gulshan Grover, the second instalment of the film, Phir Hera Pheri (2006), co-starred Bipasha Basu, Rajpal Yadav and Rimi Sen in pivotal roles. The first instalment was directed by Priyadarshan, whereas the second instalment was directed by the late filmmaker Neeraj Vora. Priyadarshan returned to the franchise as a director for the third instalment.

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On the work front, Akshay Kumar was last seen in the multi-starrer Housefull 5. He will be next seen in Bhoot Bangla, Jolly LLB 3, Welcome To The Jungle, Hera Pheri 3 in his pipeline. He made his Tollywood debut with Vishnu Manchu’s pan-Indian film Kannappa and will be making his Marathi film debut with Mahesh Manjrekar directorial Vedat Marathe Veer Daudle Saat.