Hera Pheri

Hera Pheri Movie Details:

Based on	Ramji Rao Speaking by Siddique-La
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Genre	Comedy
Release date	31 March 2000
Running time	2hr 18min
Certificate	U
Starring	Akshay Kumar Sunil Shetty Paresh Rawal Tabu
Directed by	Priyadarshan
Written by	Neeraj Vora
Produced by	A. G. Nadiadwala
Cinematography by	Jeeva
Edited by	N. Gopalakrishnan
Music by	Songs: Anu Malik Guest Composers: Lalit Sen Bally Sagoo Background Score: Surinder Sodhi
Production Company	A. G. Films (P) Ltd.
Distributor	Moviedome Video Sound Amazon Prime Video Goldmines Telefilms

Hera Pheri Movie Cast & Characters:

• Akshay Kumar as Raju
• Suniel Shetty as Ghanshyam “Shyam”
• Paresh Rawal as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (“Babu Bhaiya”)
• Tabu as Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar
• Asrani as Bank Manager
• Om Puri as Kharak Singh (Shyam’s friend)
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Devi Prasad
• Gulshan Grover as Gangster Kabira
• Razak Khan as Chhota Chetan, kabira’s close aide
• Kashmira Shah as kabira’s gang member
• Mukesh Khanna as Inspector Prakash (special appearance)
• Sulabha Arya as Savitri Devi (Raju’s mother)
• Ann Alexia Anra as Rinku Prasad (Devi Prasad’s granddaughter)
• Dinesh Hingoo as Chaman Jhinga (a client of Star Fisheries)
• Snehal Dabi as the Man misjudging Bank Manager at the Bus Stand as a pimp
• Mushtaq Khan as Devi Prasad’s servant
• Sharad Sankla as Bank Peon
• Bhairavi Vaidya as Mrs. Panikar, Anuradha’s mother
• Kahkashan Patel in a special appearance in the song “Jab Bhi Koi Haseena”
• Rajeev Mehta as Laundry Business Owner, Raju’s boss
• Namrata Shirodkar as Miss Jhinga, Chaman’s daughter & a special appearance in the song “Tun Tunak Tun” (special appearan

Storyline:

The plot revolves around two tenants, Raju and Shyam, and a landlord Baburao ganpatrao Apte, in desperate need of money, chance upon a ransom call via a cross connection. They hatch a plan to claim the ransom for themselves.

Hera Pheri Movie Box Office Collection & Budget:

Budget	₹ 7.5 crore
Worldwide Collection	₹ 17.8 crore

About Hera Pheri Movie:

It is the first installment of the Hera Pheri franchise.

Initially, film’s name was “Rafttar”, but later changed to “Hera Pheri”.

The movie is a remake of the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking which itself was inspired by the 1971 TV movie See The Man Run.

Hera Pheri was the first time that Priyadarshan worked with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. He had worked with Paresh Rawal in Doli Saja Ke Rakhna.

It also marked the beginning of a long association between Priyadarshan and the three actors.

Akshay Kumar’s first step into the comedy genre.

Over the years, the film went on to become a cult classic and is regarded as one of the best Hindi comedy films ever made. The film is noted for its authenticity and depiction of the economic problem of lower-middle-class families in India, situational comedy, dialogues, and performances of the lead trio Kumar, Rawal, and Shetty.

It was voted the best Bollywood comedy film of all time in an online poll conducted by The Indian Express.

Following Hera Pheri, Priyadarshan has made sure that either Kumar, Shetty, Rawal or a combination of the three actors would star in his films. The only exceptions are Dhol, Billu, Tezz, and Rangrezz.

Parts of the film were shot in Dubai and South Africa and Hera Pheri 3 will also be shot there.

The film score was composed by Surinder Sodhi.

Raveena Tandon was signed for a item song but was replaced by Namrata Shirodkar.

Sanjay Dutt was the initial choice for Sunil Shetty’s role. Sanjay Dutt had to leave the film because he had to attend court every day and only could do night scenes. He told Firoz Nadiawala that after completing Kartoos (1999) he could not do any film for a short period, so he suggested that Sunil Shetty should take his place in the film.

Paresh Rawal’s was appreciated by the audience so much that later he only switched to comedy roles in the new millennium and did not do negative characters for which he was known for in the 80s and 90s.

The song “Mujhse milti hai…” filmed on Akshay Kumar and Rambha, whose promos were aired on television, was deleted from the final cut of the movie.

The film didn’t do well commercially when released. But became a surprise hit on cable tv and then on television. All the three actors were praised for their comic timing. Akshay Kumar’s career went downhill as his action films were not working and he was experimenting with drama films. This film brought his comic timing in the limelight and there was no turning back after that. Akshay in an interview said that he owes all his learning of comic acting to Priyadarshan and Hera Pheri.

Hera Pheri was theatrically released on 31 March 2000. It was opened with mixed reviews, some of whom applauded the performances of Kumar and Rawal particularly. Although the film became a moderate success grossing ₹17.8cr at the box office against a budget of ₹7.5cr. It spawned a sequel, Phir Hera Pheri, released in 2006.