Hera Pheri is an Indian Hindi-language comedy film series that began in 2000. The franchise is built around three working-class characters—Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, Raju and Shyam—whose schemes to escape financial troubles drive the plots. The series is known for its slapstick humour, situational comedy and quotable dialogues, and is widely regarded as a benchmark of modern Hindi comedy cinema.
| Franchise | Hera Pheri |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Language | Hindi |
| First film | Hera Pheri (2000) |
| Second film | Phir Hera Pheri (2006) |
| Lead cast | Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal |
| Director (first film) | Priyadarshan |
| Director (second film) | Neeraj Vora |
| Production | Base Industries Group (Firoz Nadiadwala) |
The first film, Hera Pheri, was directed by Priyadarshan and released in 2000. It is an adaptation of the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking, directed by Siddique–Lal. The Hindi version reset the story in Mumbai, with Paresh Rawal as the eccentric Maharashtrian landlord Baburao, Akshay Kumar as the scheming Raju and Suniel Shetty as the earnest Shyam. The trio gets entangled in a kidnapping plot after a wrong-number telephone call, leading to a chain of comic mishaps.
The film was produced by Firoz Nadiadwala under his Base Industries Group banner. The screenplay was written by Neeraj Vora, with music by Anu Malik. Although it received a moderate theatrical response on release, Hera Pheri grew into a cult classic through television reruns and home video.
Directed by Priyadarshan, the film established the central trio living together in Baburao's garage in Mumbai. The plot revolves around an accidental involvement in a kidnapping-for-ransom scheme. It featured Tabu in a key supporting role and introduced characters and lines that became part of popular culture.
The sequel was directed by Neeraj Vora, who had written the original. Released in 2006, it continued the story of Baburao, Raju and Shyam, who, after coming into sudden wealth, fall into a fraudulent investment scheme and a series of complications involving the Mumbai underworld. The film starred Bipasha Basu, Rimi Sen and Johnny Lever in supporting roles, and was a commercial success.
A third film in the series has been in development for several years and has gone through multiple changes in cast and creative team. The project has been publicly associated with producer Firoz Nadiadwala, with reported casting changes affecting the original trio of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. As of the time of writing, the film's final cast, director and release schedule remain subject to further announcements.
The Hera Pheri series is frequently cited as one of the most influential Hindi comedy franchises of the 2000s. The first film's dialogues, character quirks and comic set pieces have had a lasting presence in Indian internet culture, generating widespread use of memes, reaction images and reused audio clips on social media platforms. The franchise also reinforced Priyadarshan's reputation in Hindi cinema for adapting South Indian comedies, and consolidated the on-screen pairing of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal, who reunited in several other comedies of the period.