Priyadarshan: “I’d Never Attempt To Recreate The Hera Pheri Magic Again”

Akshay Kumar says the entire credit  for the success of Hera Pheri, which was released on March 31, 2000 must  go to  the director Priyadarshan.

And he is  right.  After  Priyadarshan and the film’s  producer Firoz Nadiadwala had a fall-out, Nadiadwala made the sequel Phir Hera Pheri where he  deputed the direction to the Hera Pheri writer Neeraj Vora. The second Hera Pheri film was not even a fraction as funny as  the first.

 Now there is the third Hera Pheri film coming up, and Priyadarshan is  super-sceptical. “A classic, like lightning,strikes only once in the same space. You cannot hope for miracles to happen twice in the same place. The  glory of  Hera Pheri will remain forever. I am glad I was  instrumental  in that  glory.I would never dare to try and repeat it.”

He feels encoring  the success  of Hera Pheri is  implausible   if not impossible. “Even if the charm of the original is applied again,even if the cast is brought  back together, the end-result  cannot be the same. Of course I am  not discounting the  possibility of  a  miracle.”

The super-prolific Priyan,now putting finishing touches to  his latest film Corona Papers , recalls the  camaraderie during the making of  Hera Pheri. “Akshay, Suniel, Tabu, Paresh, Neeraj Vora  and I…we were  like one family  throughout the shooting. That  sort of closeness doesn’t exist any more.”