Paresh Rawal calls Hera Pheri role as ‘gale ka fanda’, reveals he sought roles from Vishal Bhardwaj, R Balki to avoid typecasting: ‘Mujhe nahi fasna aise daldal mein’

Paresh Rawal compared Hera Pheri’s sequel to the sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which in his view is a better follow-up to an iconic film. He said, “You cook up the same thing when you make sequels after sequels, not like Lage Raho Munna Bhai was to Munna Bhai MBBS where you take characters in a different direction. Everybody wants to encash on sequels but do something different with the character that has Rs 500 crore worth goodwill. Why not fly with it? But there’s mental bankruptcy or mental lethargy. I’m doing the sequel because I don’t want the film to get stuck but there is no happiness.”

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This isn’t the first time Paresh Rawal has spoken about his dissatisfaction with the Hera Pheri sequels. Earlier, in an interaction with Siddharth Kannan, he admitted that Hera Pheri lost its ‘innocence’ in its sequel. He said, “Sorry to say, but woh film nahi bani thi bara bar (the film wasn’t that good). I would tell Neeraj Vohra (director), tu bhar raha hai ismein (you’re overstuffing this film with sequences), it isn’t required. I asked him to keep the simplicity that was there in the first film. It will get messy if you overfill the film. People will laugh at anything; they will laugh if somebody is running naked, but we don’t have to run naked. The sense of proportion should be on you.”

The original Hera Pheri film released in 2000 and was a major hit, catapulting into a cult classic. It was directed by Priyadarshan. Phir Hera Pheri, helmed by Neeraj Vora, released in 2006 and was a major commercial success. The third part of the franchise is also directed by Priyadarshan.