Hera Pheri (2000 film)

Hera Pheri
Directed by	Priyadarshan
Produced by	A.G. Nadiadwala
Screenplay by	Neeraj Vora
Story by	Siddique-Lal
Starring	Akshay Kumar Sunil Shetty Paresh Rawal Tabu
Music by	Anu Malik Bally Sagoo
Cinematography	Jeeva
Editing by	N. Gopalakrishnan
Release date(s)	31 March 2000 (2000-03-31)
Country	‹See Tfd› India
Language	Hindi
Box office	Rs. 17,25,00,000

Hera Pheri (Hindi: हेरा फेरी, English: Monkey Business) is a 2000 Hindi comedy film directed by Priyadarshan starring Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Sunil Shetty and Tabu. The story of the film is based on the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking, which was also remade into Tamil cinema as Arangetra Velai (1990). The film spawned a sequel, Phir Hera Pheri, released in 2006. Hera Pheri 4 will succeed Phir Hera Pheri, and is in pre-production.

Over the years the film has become a cult classic. It is now widely regarded as one of Bollywood's best ever comedy movies. It also has a strong liking with the Aam janta (common people), on IMDB.com the film has received an public rating average of 8/10 from around 4000 voters. Also Paresh Rawal's performance is considered his best ever in a comic role, one for which he swept up all the major comedian awards that year including the Filmfare, IIFA and Star Screen Award's.

Plot

Raju (Akshay Kumar) is a tenant of Baburao Ganpatrao Apte alias Babu Bhaiyya (Paresh Rawal) and has not paid his rent to Baburao since a long time. Raju does not believe in hard work and wants to earn easy money. He cons everybody, even his mother (Sulabha Arya), who thinks that her son works in Calcutta. Baburao, a bespectacled near-sighted man, runs a garage called "Star Garage", he has a familial debt with many money-lenders, and has hard time with his moneylenders.

Shyam aka Ghanshyam (Sunil Shetty) has come to Mumbai from Gurgaon seeking a job in his late father's bank. Apparently his father died in a fire that broke out in the bank and he claims that the bank owes him the job. He badly needs the money for his friend Khadak Singh's (Om Puri) sister's marriage. A young woman, Anuradha Panniker (Tabu), is also in the running after the job, her father having died two minutes before Shyam's. Shyam meets Raju and a misunderstanding causes Shyam to think that Raju is a pickpocket. A fight ensues between the two men, and Raju escapes, leaving his wallet with Shyam. After Raju leaves, Shyam discovers that he had his own wallet on him all the time. Unfortunately, this realization comes just as Raju returns with two policemen, insisting that Shyam robbed him.

Later that evening, Shyam reaches "Star Garage". Baburao agrees to take him in as a paying boarder, although he warns Shyam that he will have to share the place with another boarder. Unfortunately for Shyam, the other boarder is Raju, who has not paid Baburao a single penny of rent in the last two years. The two men come to blows again the minute they see each other, and Raju vociferously objects to Shyam's presence and threatens to move out. Baburao is nonplussed by Raju's indignation and calls his bluff. Eventually, Raju backs down, claiming that he's only staying because he owes Baburao and he hates to leave debts. The two men are constantly at each other's throats, and poor Baburao often ends up suffering the physical consequences of their conflict.

Raju manages to trick Shyam into signing a document that says he will give the bank position to Anuradha. When Shyam discovers the fraud, he threatens to sue both the bank and Anuradha. Panicked, the bank manager tries to get Anuradha to seduce Shyam, but he's having none of it. Eventually, she makes a deal to give him the position in exchange for money. Shyam is unable to get the money, and when he goes to bluff his way through the deal, he discovers that Anuradha is living with her mentally ill mother in abject poverty. She admits that she discovered that Shyam's own financial situation is as bad as her own, and that she didn't have the heart to go through with her plan, so she gives him her resignation letter. Shyam refuses, insisting that he could never live with himself, and that she should keep the position. The two of them become friends and even begin a romance.

Meanwhile, Khadak Singh shows up at the bank looking for Shyam, whom he believes has stiffed him. The bank manager gives him Baburao's address. Raju is only too glad to put in a "good word" for Shyam with Khadak Singh, and it is only thanks to Baburao's intervention that an ugly scene does not ensue. Shyam, however gets even with Raju by shaking him down for gas money in front of his mother, lest she find out that he doesn't really work at the place he's showing her, or that he doesn't work at all.

Baburao is constantly getting people calling and wanting to speak to a Mr. Deviprasad (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), which annoys him to no end. One day, however, things become serious when a kidnapper named Kabeera (Gulshan Grover) asks for Deviprasad—only this time, he's asking for a ransom to be paid on Deviprasad's granddaughter. The trio figures out that the phone numbers for Star Garage and Star Fisheries, of which Deviprasad is the owner, have gotten transposed in the phone book.

Now, Raju decides to benefit from this situation and makes Shyam call Deviprasad posing as Kabira and demand double the amount asked by Kabeera so that they can pocket the other half themselves while satisfying the ransom demand. However, when one employee realises that Deviprasad's granddaughter might have been kidnapped, he involves the police. Both Raju and Kabeera's plans are thwarted, and as punishment for involving the police, Kabeera doubles the ransom.

Following their brush with Kabeera and the police, Shyam and Baburao inform Raju that they're out of it, but Raju eventually shames them back into helping him. They tell Deviprasad to meet them at the rendezvous point an hour before Kabeera's appointed time. When they meet with Deviprasad, he demands to see his granddaughter. Eventually, the trio are forced to admit that they are not actually the kidnappers, just three guys in over their heads, but they will get Deviprasad's granddaughter back for him. To further prove their sincerity, they unmask themselves, give Deviprasad their names and tell him that if he doesn't trust them, he can turn them in. Deviprasad chooses to believe them.

In a hilarious melee that follows between Khadak Singh and his men, Kabeera and his cronies, police and the trio, our heroes save the girl and return her to her grateful grandfather. Raju collects all the money, while Shyam and Baburao head towards their home.

When they find that Raju is not at home, they think that he may have fled with the money. Enraged, they call the police and concoct a story to implicate all 3 of them in the kidnapping. No sooner than they hang up with the police, a jubilant Raju enters, carring a suitcase. He explains to the dumbfounded duo that the car broke down, but he fixed it as well as repaid Shyam's debt, but he's here now. He is confused by his friends' glum expressions, and asks what's wrong. They explain that they though he stiffed them, so they turned themselves in and implicated him too. Raju breaks down and tells them that in this world, all he really cares for is his mother, who will now see her son being arrested and sent to jail.

As expected, the police arrive to take the trio away to jail. Raju requests that they not be led out through the front door, lest his mother see them. At the last minute, just as the police are about to shut the door on the van, Deviprasad appears, telling the police that there's been a terrible misunderstanding. He tells them that they misunderstood that he was actually giving them the money, and that he's not pressing charges against them. Not having any reason to hold them anymore, the police release the trio. They thank Deviprasad for intervening on their behalf, but Deviprasad insists that he should be thanking them, and that he meant what he said about the money being theirs. Anything the trio could possibly want in the future, Deviprasad insists, is theirs for the asking. Suddenly, the phone rings again and the trio realise that it may be for Deviprasad. But Deviprasad tells them that this time the phone is for them. They pick up the phone and suddenly become tense. Then it is shown that the caller is Deviprasad's granddaughter saying "Kabira Speaking". The film ends with the trio breaking into uncontrollable laughter.

Cast

• Akshay Kumar as Raju
• Paresh Rawal as Baburao Ganpatrao Apte aka Babu bhaiya
• Sunil Shetty as Ghanshyam (Shyam) Tiwari
• Tabu as Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar
• Gulshan Grover as Kabira
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Devi Prasad
• Om Puri as Khadak Singh
• Asrani as Bank Manager
• Razak Khan as Kabira's Gang Member
• Kashmira Shah as Kabira's Gang Member
• Dinesh Hingoo as Chaman Jhinga
• Namrata Shirodkar as Miss Jhinga (Special Appearance) in Song
• Mukesh Khanna as Police Commissioner Prakash
• Sulabha Arya as Raju's Mother
• Snehal Dabi as Man at Bus Stop
• Mushtaq Khan as Devi Prasad's Servant
• Kahkashan in a special appearance in song "Jab Bhi Koi Haseena"

Production

Hera Pheri was the first film that Priyadarshan had worked with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. He had worked with Paresh Rawal in Doli Saja Ke Rakhna. This film also marked the beginning of a long association between Priyadarshan and the three named actors.

In films 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 and Billu.

Music

The music of the film is composed by Anu Malik while the lyrics are penned by Sameer.

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Picturized on	Length
1.	"Jab Bhi Koi Haseena"	K.K., Krishna Kumar	Akshay Kumar	06:40
2.	"Denewala Jab Bhi"	Abhijeet, Vinod Rathod, Hariharan	Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal	06:50
3.	"Tun Tunak Tun"	Richa Sharma	Akshay Kumar, Namrata Shirodkar (Special appearance)	07:06
4.	"Main Ladka"	Abhijeet, Kavita Krishnamurthy	Suniel Shetty, Tabu	06:12
5.	"Humba Leela"	Abhijeet, Vinod Rathod, Hariharan	Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Tabu	04:26
6.	"Mujhe Se Milti Hai"	Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik	Akshay Kumar	06:00

Reception

Hera Pheri did not open well upon release, but picked up later and became a SuperHit, grossing Rs. 17,25,00,000 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." 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". The film has achieved a cult status among Indian audiences, and is regarded as one of the best Hindi comedy films ever made.

Awards

• Akshay Kumar won the best supporting actor award at the Bollywood Movie Awards for his performance.
• Suniel Shetty Nominated the best actor award at the Bollywood Movie Awards for his performance.

• Paresh Rawal won the Filmfare Best Comedian Award for his performance, as well as the Star Screen Award and IIFA Award in the same category.

External links

• Hera Pheri at the Internet Movie Database