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Priyadarshan On Firoz Nadiadwala's Allegations: Maybe It's His Anger At Being Unable To Make Hera Pheri 3
Priyadarshan's 2000 film Hera Pheri starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal has became a cult classic over the years. However, the film's producer Firoz Nadiadwala had recently made some shocking allegations against Priyadarshan while speaking with a leading tabloid.
Nadiadwala had claimed that Priyadarshan had abandoned the film midway and was not present for the film's editing, background score and the final mix. Etimes quoted him as saying, "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 told the same tabloid, "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 had claimed that Priyadarshan kept him in the dark about selling the Hindi remake rights to another filmmaker in Punjab.
However, Priyadarshan refuted these allegations and told the same daily, "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."
Firoz had alleged that Priyadarshan tried to convince the actors of Heri Pheri to refrain from being a part of the film's sequel. He had claimed that when they were shooting the 'Ae Meri Zohrajabeen' song for Pheri Hera Pheri at Filmistan studios, Priyadarshan landed on the film's sets and made fun of him in front of the film's cast and crew.
Firoz had told ETimes, "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?"
On the other hand, Priyadarshan rubbished these claims and said, "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."
He continued, "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)."
Priyadarshan also opened up on Heri Pheri 3 and said that Sunil Shetty who is like a family to him, had suggested that he should consider directing the film. Following this, he met Akshay Kumar too, and then 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," the filmmaker signed off.
Priyadarshan had recently helmed Hungama 2 starring Shilpa Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Meezaan and Pranitha Subhash. The film which released on Disney+Hotstar, received a poor response.
