Showing posts with label Seven Arts International. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seven Arts International. Show all posts
I could’ve made Hera Pheri 3 bigger than Dhurandhar-Priyadarshan
9:09 AM
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; July 3, 2026)
Much anticipated, but seemingly jinxed — that’s Hera Pheri 3 for you. The comedy franchise’s third instalment, which was announced in January 2025, faced a fresh blow earlier this week when producer Firoz A Nadiadwallah announced that Priyadarshan would no longer helm the Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal-starrer; something that was further confirmed by the director. So, what caused the filmmaker to exit a project that he was deeply invested in? Legal tangles and Nadiadwallah’s behaviour towards him, he said.
In an exclusive chat with mid-day, Priyadarshan revealed, “Firoz told Akshay, ‘You have the rights to make Hera Pheri 3, but never make it with Priyadarshan. That’s my only request.’ He has insulted me so many times — he told me that my cut of Hera Pheri [2000] looked like a poor man’s version, that he had to edit my five-hour movie. I initially agreed to do the third part with Akshay because I thought I could make one of this country’s biggest franchises. If I had directed it, I could’ve made it bigger than Dhurandhar. Akshay, Suniel, and Paresh requested me to make Hera Pheri 3. When I narrated the story to them, they were all excited.”
According to Priyadarshan, troubles began right in 2025. “When Hera Pheri 3 was announced, I got a call from Seven Arts Films’ G P Vijayakumar that if we ever do the film, it will be a violation. I didn’t know what to do. This is why I said that Hera Pheri 3 may never see the screens with the same characters. You will never see them again as it has too many legal issues. According to me, Hera Pheri [2000] was born, Phir Hera Pheri [2006] became sick, and Hera Pheri 3 will be dead,” said the director.
Earlier this year, South Indian producer Vijayakumar claimed that Nadiadwallah didn’t own the rights to the Hera Pheri franchise and questioned his transfer of third instalment’s rights to leading man Kumar. Vijayakumar further claimed that in 2022, he had bought the entire franchise’s rights from Adithya Films, the makers of the Malayalam original Ramji Rao Speaking (1989), on which Hera Pheri was based.
He also alleged that Nadiadwallah had only bought the Hindi remake rights of Ramji Rao Speaking, and then flouted the contract by making the sequel. “It is a legally complicated battle of copyright,” stated Priyadarshan.
In May 2025, Paresh Rawal had briefly exited ‘Hera Pheri 3’ only to return later. In the interim, producer and co-star Akshay Kumar sued him for Rs. 25 crore, while reports indicated that Rawal was apparently unhappy with the compensation and his character arc.
Over a year later, Priyadarshan offered a different version of events. “At that time, Paresh Rawal got a legal notice from Firoz A Nadiadwallah saying that while Akshay has the third part’s rights, Nadiadwallah had not sold the three main characters, including that of Baburao [Rawal’s character]. Paresh panicked and wanted to take a legal opinion on it. Hence he left the film. Money was not an issue,” said the director. "Hera Pheri is one of my favorite films so whatever may be the outcome and whoever the producers are, let Hera Pheri live long, by entertaining the people who love it."
Hera Pheri 3 in fresh legal trouble as South producer moves Madras High Court
11:26 PM
The third part of the cult comedy Hera Pheri has landed in fresh legal trouble with a producer from the South moving the Madras High Court, claiming that he, not Firoz Nadiadwala, owns the copyright for the film
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 7, 2026)
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
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