Phir Hera Pheri

Phir Hera Pheri
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Neeraj Vora
Produced by	Firoz Nadiadwala
Written by	Neeraj Vora
Starring	Akshay Kumar Sunil Shetty Bipasha Basu Rimi Sen Paresh Rawal
Narrated by	Nana Patekar
Music by	Himesh Reshammiya
Cinematography	Velraj
Edited by	Diwakar P. Bhonsle Virendra Gharse
Distributed by	Base Industries Group
Release date	9 June 2006 (2006-06-09)
Running time	156 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹18 crore[1]
Box office	₹69.12 crore[1]

Phir Hera Pheri (lit. Fraud business again) is a 2006 Indian crime comedy film. It is the sequel to the 2000 film Hera Pheri directed by Neeraj Vora.^[2] The film stars the three men from the previous film Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Bipasha Basu and Rimi Sen are the new additions in the film. The central plot is inspired from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the plot of circus was taken from Charlie Chaplin starer movie The Circus. The movie was released on 9 June 2006.^[3][4]

Plot

Hera Pheri ended with the trio of Raju (Akshay Kumar), Shyam/ghanshyam (Sunil Shetty), and Baburao Ganapathrao Apte (Paresh Rawal) rich and rolling in money. Phir Hera Pheri tells the story of what happens after they become rich.

The film opens with a prologue bringing the audience up to date, stating that each has suffered a personal loss despite their new riches. Shyam lost his love, Anuradha (Tabu (actress)), in an automobile accident, Raju's mother died after battling a disease, and Baburao - having nothing to lose in the first place - lost the little traces of common sense that he did possess.

The three men are living a king's life in a massive bungalow and splurging on various luxuries. Raju hears about an idea for doubling his wealth from a con woman, Anuradha (Bipasha Basu), who is claiming to be a bank manager, and he convinces Shyam and Baburao to go along with it. Raju first arranges for ₹30 lakh from Shyam and Baburao and then a further ₹50 lakh by selling their bungalow. He convinces a small-time goon, Pappu (Rajpal Yadav) to contribute the remaining balance of ₹20 lakh so that he can come up with the minimum deposit of ₹1 crore, which Anuradha has promised to double.

The trio invest the money and three weeks later realise that it was all a scam and that they are now penniless. To make matters worse, they do not even have possession of their bungalow, which Raju had sold off in order to arrange the last bit of money needed, and have to live in a chawl (tenement). Pappu shows up to the bungalow the next day to pick up his portion of the money, but is shocked to learn that Raju has left and the bungalow is now in possession of a gun collector (Dinesh Hingoo). Pappu is now in trouble because he had borrowed money from a lisping but dreaded gangster, Tiwari (Sharat Saxena), who will kill him if he doesn't pay up. He comes across Raju one day, and upon hearing of the scam pretends to be sympathetic. He tricks him and brings the three to his boss, telling him that they are the ones who took the money. Tiwari threatens them and tells them they have to come up with the money or else they will die. As they are being taken home by some of Tiwari's goons, the three manage to escape. Raju, Shyam and Baburao are about to leave the city when Raju remembers that he owes money to a woman named Anjali (Rimi Sen). The three head over to her house and are surprised to find that she is Pappu's sister. Tiwari's goons show up and kidnap Anjali because Pappu has not returned the money. Feeling guilty that he is the one who got Anjali in trouble, Raju decides that he will go to Tiwari and try to get her freed. Shyam and Baburao refuse to leave without them and decide to stay as well. The three go back to Tiwari to ask him to release Anjali, and Tiwari tells them to bring the money, releasing Anjali.

Raju, Shyam and Baburao now have three days to come up with ₹40 lakh to pay back the goon or else they will themselves be killed. Raju overhears the neighbor, Munnabhai (Johnny Lever), plotting to steal drugs from another gangster, Nanji Bhai (Milind Gunaji), and wrongly assumes they are talking about stealing money. Raju hatches a plan for the three of them to steal from Munnabhai. The three manage to barely succeed, but are confused when they do not find money inside. Raju recognizes the stuff as drugs and tells them that they are worth at least ₹3 crore (thirty million). They think that if they can sell them to Kachara Seth (Manoj Joshi) and pay off Tiwari, they can also become rich, but their neighbor once again steals the drugs from them. They then run into Anuradha and she tells them that the entire scam was hatched by Kabeera (the gangster from the first Hera Pheri) to get revenge on the trio, and that the only reason she went along with it was because they were holding her niece hostage (Anuradha's sister was Kabeera's gang member and part of the first movie's kidnapping plot). Their money was converted to diamonds to pay the ransom, but she fled with them once she discovered her niece had escaped and hid them under a decoration of a circus float.

In the end, all the guys end up in a circus show where they attempt to get hold of the diamonds. These are strewn all over the ground in public by a gorilla. Raju escapes with Pappu's cellphone and three antique guns with him, which are worth ₹5–6 crore, though he does not know about it. Pappu informs Shyam and Baburao about the guns, after which they try to call Raju on his cellphone. The film ends in a cliffhanger where Raju is about to throw the guns in the river with his cellphone ringing in his pocket.

This movie is an adaptation of the Hollywood film, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, starring Jason Statham.

Cast

• Paresh Rawal as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte
• Suniel Shetty as Shyam/Ghanshyam
• Akshay Kumar as Raju
• Bipasha Basu as Anuradha
• Rimi Sen as Anjali
• Rajpal Yadav as Pappu (Anjali's brother)
• Manoj Joshi as Kachra Seth
• Johny Lever as Munnabhai
• Sharat Saxena as Tiwari
• Ravi Kissen as Tiwari's sidekick
• Suresh Menon as Peter
• Tiku Talsania as the Inspector
• Javed Khan as Police constable
• Dinesh Hingoo as Parsi man
• Milind Gunaji as Nanjibhai
• Razak Khan as a Goon
• Sunil Pal as Munnabhai's sidekick
• Kiku Sharda as Munnabhai's sidekick
• Viju Khote as Ram Leela troupe member
• Madan Singh as the Tall Man, Shailendra Pandey as the voice of Tall Man
• Manmouji as Ram Leela troupe member
• Birbal as Circus magician
• Nana Patekar as the Narrator
• Dia Mirza Special Appearance in item song
• Neeraj Vora as the bus passenger speaking on the phone

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya with lyrics written by Sameer. Ae Meri Zohrajabeen song was only seen in end title credit. The song became so popular that it was added in movie later. The dream sequence of Paresh Rawal was added following the song. 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.^[5]

Awards

Sequel

A sequel titled Hera Pheri 3 is in the pipeline, but the production of the same is postponned because director Neeraj Vora passed away on 14 December 2017 after a prolonged illness. After the response from Feroz Nadiadwala, it will be released.^[6]

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, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal in the lead. It was reported that the film will be shot in a start-to-finish schedule and Indra Kumar confirmed to The Indian Express that the film will be ready for release in the second half of 2019. The film will continue the story from the previous two films.^[7][8][9]

References

External links

• Phir Hera Pheri on IMDb