Hera Pheri (2000) starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal has garnered a cult following over the years. The comedy drama changed fortunes of Priyadarshan and established him as one of the leading directors of indian cinema. Now, producer, Firoz Nadiadwala has made some shocking allegations against the Hulchul director. Speaking to a leading daily, Nadiadwala said, Priyadarshan never even completed Hera Pheri. Continuing further he said, Paresh Rawail’s iconic character was not even the director’s vision and neither were Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty’s his own. Priyadarshan had a film about an economically challenged family drama written for the makers with a runtime of 3 hours and 40 mins. Moreover his version had many dramatic scenes and less humorous lines. It is said that he was even absent during the background music recording, and dubbing.
Firoz Nadiadwala further said, the real work on the film began after Priyadarshan's disappearance. He says he completed the film with late writer and director Neeraj Vora and choreographer Ahmed Khan. The producer credits the writer Neeraj Vora for most of the work, “He added a lot of punchlines. We deleted the sad scenes. We did a lot of improvisations during the dubbing and editing to make it what the audience knows by today,” he told the daily. The producer adds that Priyadarshan apparently watched the final cut of the film when Firoz’s sister, Noorie, held a special screening for him and his family. "He did not tell her how he abandoned the project midway. This was the first time he watched the final cut, which was completely different from what he had [given]. The film, which the audiences saw, was the director’s cut in the sense that the director was cut from the final version,” he said, adding that Priyadarshan also tried to ‘convince the actors to say no’ to the sequel. Priyadarshan, speaking with Mid-Day last month, had stated that he ‘refused’ to be a part of Hera Pheri 2. He also said that he didn't want Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 to be made. Meanwhile, Paresh Rawal recently confirmed that a third film in the Hera Pheri franchise is in the making. Priyadarshan's last release, Hungama 2 turned out to be a damp squib which featured Shilpa Shetty and Meezaan Jaffrey.