Mumbai: Amboli police on Monday filed an FIR against film producers Gopala Pillai Vijaykumar and M Paul Michael for alleged cheating and defamation linked to the copyright of the 1989 Malayalam film ‘Ramji Rao Speaking', which was remade into Hindi movie ‘Hera Pheri'.

The action was taken based on a complaint by Hindi film producer Firoz Nadiadwala, who alleged that the two made false copyright violation claims about ‘Hera Pheri'.

As per the FIR, the remake rights of ‘Ramji Rao Speaking' were sold in 1993 by Sarga Chitra to Compact Disc India, and Nadiadwala's firm legally purchased the rights from it for Rs 4.5 lakh on March 24, 2000. He acquired the copyright for Hindi and other languages, excluding Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Nadiadwala's complaint said: "In 2000, producers M Paul Michael and Siddique-Lal claimed copyright and story rights and attempted to prevent the global release of ‘Hera Pheri'." He said he later filed a complaint with the Mumbai police chief. He alleged Michael and Siddique, through intermediaries, then contacted him, threatened him and demanded money. They allegedly warned that they would create legal hurdles at the last moment before the film's release, causing fear and pressure. Siddique died in 2023.

On Dec 30, 2024, Nadiadwala said, he received a copyright violation notice from Vijaykumar and Michael. In Oct 2025, Vijaykumar filed a petition in Madras HC, saying Seven Arts International Ltd purchased the copyright of ‘Ramji Rao Speaking' from Sarga Chitra for Rs 3 lakh in 2022. He alleged that this claim was fabricated and intended to cheat, and that the accused were now demanding Rs 60 lakh and 25% of the profits from ‘Hera Pheri'.

Nadiadwala alleged the accused spread false information about copyright on online platforms and in the media.

In a strange twist of events, the Madras High Court has questioned producer Firoz Nadiadwala on whether his film, Hera Pheri 3 is being made at all, because a production house - Seven Arts International - has claimed that they, and not Nadiadwala, own the copyright to the Hera Pheri franchise.

As reported by Bar and Bench on Thursday, Seven Arts International Limited has filed a petition stating that Nadiadwala was authorised to make only one Hindi remake of the Malayalam original Ramji Rao Speaking (1989), which was released as the Priyadarshan-directed Hera Pheri in 2000. However, Nadiadwala went on to produce a sequel, Phir Hera Pheri (2006), and has now sold the rights for the third part to actor Akshay Kumar’s production house.

G P Vijayakumar, MD of Seven Arts International tells HT City, “I bought the entire rights for the Hera Pheri franchise from the original producers of Ramji Rao Speaking, Adithya Films in 2022. They informed me that Firoz Nadiadwala had been given the right to make one Hindi version of the film. But he made a second version which released in 2006. He is not authorised to make a sequel or prequel, or use the characters.”

When asked why action was not taken after Phir Hera Pheri, Vijayakumar reasoned, “While the first film was directed by Priyadarshan who we are close to, the second film was directed by Neeraj Vora, and the copyright holders at the time didn’t realize what happened. The original producers and I realized much later that Nadiadwala has done a violation and cheating. At the time we thought jo ho gaya, ho gaya. We will produce the next version in Hindi. We approached actor Akshay Kumar for the same and that’s when we got to know that Nadiadwala has sold the rights to Akshay’s production house Cape of Good Films. We sent Nadiadwala a legal notice on how he could sell something he did not own. I had no option but to move the Court.”

We reached out to Akshay’s production house and the spokesperson said that they bought the rights from Nadiadwala under the impression that he owns them.

Efforts to reach Nadiadwala met with no response while Priyadarshan who is supposed to direct Hera Pheri 3 said, “No idea”.

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”We have legitimately bought the rights of Hera Pheri 3 from Firoz Nadiadwala, and we are rightful owner and producer of the film Hera Pheri 3. We shall wait for legal clarity in the case,” says Rana Rakesh Bali from Akshay Kumar’s production house, Cape of Good Films

Over the years, the comedy, Hera Pheri (2000), directed by Priyadarshan has gone on to become a cult classic. The film starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, and Tabu, produced by Firoz A Nadiadwala, was the remake of the Malayalam film, Ramji Rao Speaking (1989). When the Hindi film was released in the year 2000, the characters of the film Baburao (Paresh), Raju (Akshay), and Shyam (Suniel) became hugely popular, and some of the dialogues and scenes from the film remain unforgettable even to date. In 2006, a sequel was made, titled Phir Hera Pheri, directed by the late Neeraj Vora (who wrote the screenplay and dialogues of Hera Pheri) and was backed by Nadiadwala. In the year 2015, Hera Pheri 3 was announced by Nadiadwala, with Paresh Rawal, John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan. The film went on floors briefly in June 2015, after which, it made little progress. Post that, Neeraj Vora’s health took a beating, and he subsequently, passed away. News about Hera Pheri 3 being in the planning stages surfaced again when Paresh Rawal and Priyadarshan were promoting a film last month.

While fans of the franchise have always been excited about another film in the series, in a recent interview, Nadiadwala made some startling revelations related to Hera Pheri. The producer claimed that Priyadarshan had left Hera Pheri incomplete, leading to a lot of stress. Bombay Times reached out to the producer and the director who shared their respective versions. Nadiadwala claims, “Priyan shot a three-hour 40 minutes long film. Usne copy hamare haath pakdadi, and he left. He was not there for the editing, background score, or for the final mix.”

Firoz says, “He was also not there for the dubbing, photo sessions, planning the publicity, or making the trailers. I sat for the edit with the late Neeraj Vora and the rest of the team. We cut down the film by one hour and 30 minutes. Today, when I look back, I am just thankful to Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Neeraj Vora, and Ahmed Khan (choreographer) because of whom we could complete the film.”

Reacting to Nadiadwala’s allegations, Priyadarshan says, “How could I make a film as long as three hours and 40 minutes? It is a remake of a Malayalam film, and so, I knew what I was making. All these claims are false. The whole film was made in Chennai. It was mixed in my theatre. I completed the film and I gave the final copy to him.”

Nadiadwala also claims that Priyadarshan had kept him in the dark about selling the Hindi remake rights to another filmmaker in Punjab. “Literally 10 days before the film’s release, we got to know that a filmmaker from Punjab had the rights to the film. I rushed to Chandigarh for the settlement. I had to pay him whatever he demanded. I have proof of all this,” says the producer.

Rubbishing these claims, Priyan says, “How can I sell the rights, when I never had them? It is the original writers of the Malayalam film (Siddique and Lal, also the directors of that film) who sold it. It was not written by me. It was written by Siddique, the one who directed Bodyguard starring Salman Khan. They sold the rights to someone else. Then, we started the film (Hera Pheri) and we were supposed to buy the rights from them for Rs. 5 lakhs.”

According to Nadiadwala, Priyan also tried to convince the actors of the film to refrain from being a part of the film’s sequels. He elaborates saying, “When we were shooting for Phir Hera Pheri’s Aye Meri Zohrajabeen song at Filmistan, Priyan landed on the sets. He started making fun of me in front of the cast and crew. He started taunting me by saying, ‘Don’t listen to Firoz, he is going to spoil everybody’s reputation.’ The camera has captured him on the set. At the beginning of the song, one can notice him in the background. All these years, I kept quiet out of respect, but everything has a limit. I was fed up with his claims that he has turned down offers to direct the sequels. Even during his recent media interactions, he mentioned that. He gave me such a hard time during the making of the Hera Pheri, why would I approach him for a sequel?”

In his defense, Priyan adds, “Yes, he never approached me for the sequels. When Neeraj Vora was approached to direct Phir Hera Pheri, he was working with me for a film. He asked me if I wanted to direct the film. I said, no. He asked me if it was okay if he directed it, and I said that I have no problem at all. What do I do when the media asks me if I am directing the sequel of the film? I don’t know why this upsets Firoz. I have nothing against him. See, I personally didn’t want to direct Phir Hera Pheri. And this has been my answer to whoever asked me this question. Part 1 was the remake of a Malayalam film. I wasn’t sure where the story of the sequel will lead. So, I didn’t want to do it. In fact, when I had met Neeraj Vora, I frankly told him that he didn’t do a great job with Phir Hera Pheri. The film had become a brand and so it worked. He accepted it. He even told me that they had drawn inspiration from a few films and joined it all together because they didn’t know how to take the story forward. I shared a great rapport with Neeraj and after that film, too, Neeraj and I did 2-3 films together (Tezz, Khatta Meetha and Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal).”

About Hera Pheri 3, Priyan says, “Suniel Shetty, who is like family to me, suggested that I should consider doing the film. So, we met Akshay Kumar, too, and I felt like giving it a nod. In fact, Firoz and I were supposed to meet as well, but that never happened. Then I heard that they had roped in Abhishek Bachchan and then finally, the film didn’t get made. I share a cordial relation with everyone, why will I ask anyone to not do the film? I continued to work with Akshay, Suniel, and Paresh on other projects. I have also met Firoz and we have had cordial talks before. I have nothing against anyone. During my latest film promotions when the media asked me if I was directing Hera Pheri 3, I said that I am not interested in directing it. I personally don’t believe I will be able to do justice to the sequel, so why will I even consider it? It is as simple as that! I don’t know what has irked Firoz. Maybe it is his anger and frustration at being unable to make Hera Pheri 3.”

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Filmmaker Priyadarshan has strongly denied allegations of him abandoning his film Hera Pheri midway and trying to bungle the plans for a sequel. He said he has no influence in Bollywood to even think of concocting such a conspiracy.

Recently, producer Firoz Nadiadwala made several claims against the director; from leaving the 2000 film midway to making a depressing version to try and convince the actors to say no to the sequel. “I’ve nothing against anyone. The so-called incident happened 20 years ago. Why are you talking about it now? And why should I say I didn’t do this or that,” the director shares, further adding, “I did that movie and went on to do many more films. I’m sitting on the 95th film of my career. If I had such behaviour, I wouldn’t have been in the industry.”

Talking about whether he convinced actors to not do the sequel, the 64-year-old asks if that would have been the case, then how have the makers made part two with the same actors? “And I have also worked with these actors after that movie. How can that be possible? I’m a small south Indian filmmaker, I don’t have any influence in Bollywood,” he reasoned. To the claim of making a depressing version, Priyadarshan reminds us that the film starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal, was a remake of the Malayalam film, Ramji Rao Speaking (1989). “It was made frame by frame. It can’t be that I made a depressing or overly long version. The original was a super duper hit, and that’s why a Hindi remake was made in the first place.”