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Hera Pheri (2000 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Hera Pheri' is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Priyadarshan, starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal and Tabu. The film is a remake of the 1989 Malayalam film 'Ramji Rao Speaking'. The film spawned a sequel, 'Phir Hera Pheri', released in 2006. It is the first instalment of the 'Hera Pheri' franchise.
Over the years, the film went on to become a cult classic. It was voted as the best Bollywood comedy film of all time in an online poll conducted by 'The Indian Express'.
Plot
The film begins with Ghanshyam alias Shyam (Sunil Shetty), a guy from Gurgaon searching for a job at a bank. He was unable to get the job despite his late father who worked there. One day, he accidentally bumps into a guy named Raju (Akshay Kumar). Shyam mistakes Raju for a pickpocket and begins to chase him. However, he discovers the truth and the opposite occurs when Raju chases Shyam after mistaking him to be a pickpocket. Raju has his troubles, dealing with his daydreams and the unfriendly people he is working for. He is unable to keep a job and thus faces many problems.
Shyam then approaches a garage owned by a man named Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (Paresh Rawal; fondly called as Babu Bhaiya) and manages to get a room on rent by compromising on the amount for Babu Bhaiya's alcohol. Unbeknownst to him, Raju is staying in the same house on rent, which he hasn't paid for the last two years. The trio falls into hilarious situations that usually involve Raju instigating Shyam and purposefully trying to create a ruckus that Babu Bhaiya, has to resolve. During one such fight, a girl named Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar (Tabu) arrives and tries to persuade Shyam to sign the Non-Objection Certificate, so that she could have the job at the bank. When Shyam refuses, Raju hatches a plot to make him sign the papers. Shyam eventually finds out that Raju deceitfully made him sign the papers and that is when the rivalry between the two commences. An old friend of Shyam, Kharak Singh (Om Puri), comes to his place asking to return his money which Shyam took from Kharak as a loan. Kharak asks Shyam to pay the loan back as soon as possible or else his sister's marriage would be cancelled.
Shyam finds out that Raju has been deceiving his mother by posing as an engineer. Anuradha prepares a job resignation meanwhile and gives it to Shyam, who in return tears it up because of her mentally ill mother and the poor conditions of her home. Later, he confronts Raju who reveals that he wants to see his mother happy.
Their life takes an unexpected turn when they get a call from Gangster Kabeera (Gulshan Grover) which is a wrong number meant for the owner of Star Fisheries, Mr Devi Prasad (Kulbhushan Kharbanda). The wrong number is because of the misprint in the phone directory, which renders Star Fisheries' number as Star Garage's and vice versa. Kabeera, a terrorist and kidnapper, thinking that it is Devi Prasad, tells him that his granddaughter Rinku is kidnapped and asks for a ransom. Eavesdropping on the entire conversation going between Kabeera and Shyam, Raju decides to play a game.
The game involves Shyam calling Devi Prasad posing as the kidnapper and asking for double the ransom amount, which will solve their monetary problems. Shyam and Babu Bhaiya initially repel the idea, but they finally give in when Raju convinces them that even though it's wrong, this is a golden chance to earn money and also to save a life. They call the real Deviprasad and ask for double ransom. On their first attempt they wear helmets as a disguise but their attempt gets foiled by the police led by the Sub-Inspector Prakash (Mukesh Khanna) (called secretly by Devi Prasad's servant). Kabeera later informs them that the ransom has been doubled. They call Deviprasad again and ask for a foolproof double ransom.
On their second attempt, they wear Zorro costumes to hide their identities. However, they reveal themselves to Devi Prasad to win his confidence and try to save Rinku from the kidnappers. But she recognizes Shyam as an imposter and Kabeera gets alerted. A huge fight involving the police, Kabeera's gang members, and Kharak & his men, infuriated by the delay in returning the money, takes place. Rinku is saved by the trio and returned to Devi Prasad. Babu Bhaiya and Shyam go home happily intending to find Raju with the money, but they find him missing. Assuming that he has cheated them, they call the police to confess the crime. But Raju returns and reveals that he had gone only to return the money of the creditors. The police arrive and, seeing the money, arrest the trio.
In the end, Devi Prasad comes to the trio's rescue and convinces the police that it was all a misunderstanding and saves the three and they go home, richer than ever. The film ends with the trio getting a prank call from Devi Prasad's granddaughter Rinku.
Cast
*Akshay Kumar as Raju
*Suniel Shetty as Ghanshyam "Shyam"
*Paresh Rawal as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte aka Babu Bhaiya
*Tabu as Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar
*Asrani as Bank Manager
*Om Puri as Kharak Singh (Shyam's Friend)
*Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Devi Prasad
*Gulshan Grover as Gangster Kabeera
*Razak Khan as Chhota Chetan, Kabeera's close aide.
*Kashmira Shah as Kabeera's gang member.
*Mukesh Khanna as Inspector Prakash Mathur (special appearance)
*Sulabha Arya as Savitri Devi (Raju's mother)
*Ann Alexia Anra as Rinku Prasad (Devi Prasad's grand-daughter).
*Dinesh Hingoo as Chaman Jhinga, A customer of star fisheries.
*Snehal Dabi as the Man misjudging Bank Manager at a bus stand as a marriage fixer.
*Mushtaq Khan as Devi Prasad's servant
*Sharad Sankla as Bank Peon
*Bhairavi Vaidya as Mrs. Panikar, Anuradha's mother.
*Kahkashan Patel in a special appearance in song "'Jab Bhi Koi Haseena'"
*Rajeev Mehta as Laundry Business Owner, Raju's boss.
*Namrata Shirodkar as Miss Jhinga, Chaman's daughter & special appearance in the song "'Tun Tunak Tun'" (special appearance)
Production
'Hera Pheri' was the first time that Priyadarshan worked with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. He had worked with Paresh Rawal in 'Doli Saja Ke Rakhna'. It also marked the beginning of a long association between Priyadarshan and the three actors.
Following 'Hera Pheri', Priyadarshan has made sure that either Kumar, Shetty, Rawal, or a combination of the three actors would star in his films. The only exceptions are 'Dhol', 'Billu', 'Tezz' and 'Rangrezz'.
Parts of the film were shot in Dubai and South Africa and Hera Pheri 3 will also be shot there.
Music
Score
The film score was composed by Surinder Sodhi.Songs
Reception
The film did not open well upon release, but picked up later and became a box office success, grossing Rs. 24,25,00,000 in India. Much of the acclaim went to Paresh Rawal for his comic timing and acting, with critics calling it "one of his best performances ever". Aparajita Saha of Rediff stated "the movie belongs entirely to Paresh Rawal. Whatever laughter the film solicits is solely due to him. He has impeccable timing and a natural flair for comedy. Sunil Shetty's role and his performance is also too good." Alok Kumar of Planet Bollywood praised the movie saying "Priyadarshan's Hera Pheri is a delight to watch for its performances, some songs, and an interesting story line".
It has achieved a cult status among Indian audiences and is regarded as one of the best Hindi comedy films ever made. The dialogues, "Rakh! Rakh teri maa ki rakh!" and "Khopdi tod saale ka" said by Baburao Apte (Paresh Rawal), among others, became widely famous and are used popularly in Indian memes.
Remakes
Awards and nominations
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! Awards
! Category
! Recipients and Nominees
! Results
|-
|rowspan="1"|International Indian Film Academy Awards
|Best Actor in a Comic Role
|Paresh Rawal
|rowspan="5"
|-
|rowspan="1"|Filmfare Awards
|Best Comedian
|Paresh Rawal
|-
| rowspan="6" |Screen Awards
|Best Comic Actor
|Paresh Rawal
|-
|Best Screenplay
|Neeraj Vora
|-
|Best Dialogue
|Neeraj Vora
|-
|Best Performance in a Comic Role
|Om Puri
|rowspan="3"
|-
|Best Story
|Anand S. Vardhan
|-
|Best Editing
|N. Gopalakrishnan
|}
Sequel
'Phir Hera Pheri', the sequel of this film, was released on 9 June 2006. Alongside the main trio, Bipasha Basu, Rimi Sen and Johny Lever joined the cast. The sequel was a box-office blockbuster.
References
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