Paresh Rawal says Phir Hera Pheri became ‘classic case of overkill’, talks about 3rd part. Interview

Hera Pheri clocked in 22 years of its release today, March 31. In an exclusive chat with IndiaToday.in, Paresh Rawal talked about the cult classic, why its sequel failed to create magic and the possibility of Hera Pheri 3.

Priyadarshan's directorial venture Hera Pheri, starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal and Tabu, was released in 2000. The film completes 22 years today, March 31. Hera Pheri is considered a cult classic and is also regarded as the best Bollywood comedy movie of all times.

On Hera Pheri’s 22nd anniversary, Paresh Rawal, who played the iconic character of Babu Rao in it, chatted with IndiaToday.in and shared his memories of making the film.

Paresh Rawal talked about 22 years of Hera Pheri. He said, "Time flies so fast, it doesn't feel like it's been 22 years. It feels like just yesterday we gave our final shot. This is because Hera Pheri was kept alive by the audiences and fans through the memes, jokes, etc. Can't imagine 22 years have passed by. Many people still love the film and remember it."

The veteran actor asserted that he had no idea that they were making a cult film. "The memorable part of this film is that we never thought even for a second that we will be creating history or making a great film. We shot this film in the severe heat of Chennai, Mumbai and some parts of South Africa. We were just kind of going through the motion. We never realised or we had no knowledge of what we were doing or creating. Also, the interaction between Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty was also very kind of usual, and causal. Only when the film succeeded did we realise what we had made. I thoroughly enjoyed shooting for the film. It was different for me to have that kind of body language and tone.”

Paresh Rawal revealed that director Priyadarshan knew Babu Rao had to work for the film to be a success. "In my association with Priyadarshan, he was quite confident of one thing: if this (Babu Rao) character doesn't click, the film will flop. This he told me when he narrated the script to me for the first time in 1996. We started shooting in 1998. He told me very clearly if it doesn't click, the film will be doomed. But, for us, it did click in a big way,” the Hungama actor said,

Paresh Rawal also revealed that he enjoyed working on the film with Priyadarshan. "I had done Andaz Apna Apna previously, so I knew that Hera Pheri would be a good comedy. And, comedy coming from poverty, three poor guys made it good. Plus, the second thing that I liked was Priyadarshanji's control over the scenes. He would not let us jump too much, with regard to the scenes, the sense of proportion that he had led me to enjoy the film more," he said.

Due to the immense love for Hera Pheri, the makers spawned a sequel, Phir Hera Pheri, which was released in 2006. However, the film didn't manage to create the magic of the original film. Talking about it, Paresh Rawal said, "When we were making Phir Hera Pheri, I felt that we were stuffing too many things into it. The simple goodwill of these three characters and the scope of these characters would have worked for the film. But since the first one worked so well, you try hard to make the second work well and so it turns out to be a classic case of overkill.”