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There is a big and strange legal dispute regarding the upcoming film ‘Hera Pheri 3’, which has now reached the Madras High Court. First of all let’s talk about the original story. The film ‘Hera Pheri’ is actually a Hindi remake of the 1989 Malayalam film ‘Ramji Rao Speaking’. This Malayalam film was directed by Priyadarshan, and in 2000, Firoz Nadiadwala remade it in Hindi as Hera Pheri, starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal. This film became a superhit. Then in 2006, Nadiadwala made its sequel Hera Pheri, which was also quite successful. Now he is preparing to make ‘Hera Pheri 3’, and he has sold its rights to Akshay Kumar’s production house Cape of Good Films.

But here comes the twist. Seven Arts International Limited, a production company from South whose managing director is G.P. Vijayakumar, has filed a case in Madras High Court. He claims that the original rights of Hera Pheri franchise are with him and not with Firoz Nadiadwala. He says, ‘He had purchased all the rights in 2022 from Aditya Films, the makers of the original Malayalam film ‘Ramji Rao Speaking’.

How many rights did Nadiadwala get?

This includes sequels, prequels, use of characters etc. Nadiadwala got the rights to make only one Hindi remake, that is, to make only the first film ‘Hera Pheri’ (2000). But after this he again made Hera Pheri (2006), which was against the rules and now he is selling the rights of the third film even though he does not have those rights. G.P. Vijaykumar told in an interview that earlier the film was made by Priyadarshan, who is his good friend, so he did not say anything. He and the original owners came to know about the second film much later. Then he thought that whatever has happened has happened, but now that the third film is about to be made, he cannot remain silent.

What will be the future of ‘Hera Pheri 3’?

He had also sent a legal notice to Nadiadwala, but to no avail, so he went to court. During the hearing in Madras High Court, Judge Senthilkumar Ramamurthy directly asked Firoz Nadiadwala, ‘Is ‘Hera Pheri 3’ really being made or not? Because Seven Arts claims that Nadiadwala has infringed the copyright. The company wants the court to give an interim order, so that ‘Hera Pheri’ 3 or any other sequel cannot be made until the matter is decided.

What did Akshay Kumar say?

On the other hand, Akshay Kumar’s production house says that they had bought the rights from Nadiadwala in good faith, they felt that the rights were with them only. There was no response from Firoz Nadiadwala (attempts to contact were unsuccessful). Director Priyadarshan also said that he had ‘no idea’. Overall, this matter is now in the court and a big question has arisen on the fate of ‘Hera Pheri 3’. Fans will have to wait to see what decision the court gives, whether the film will be made or this controversy will stop it.