Hera Pheri (2000)

Three unemployed men find the answer to all their money problems when they recieve a call from a kidnapper. However, things do not go as planned.

Director:

Priyadarshan

Writers:

Siddique (story), Lal (story)

Stars:

Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Sunil Shetty

Top Rated Indian Movies #36 | 6 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Akshay Kumar	...	Raju
Paresh Rawal	...	Baburao Ganpatrao Apte
Sunil Shetty	...	Ghanshyam (Shyam)
Tabu	...	Anuradha Shivshankar Panikar
Om Puri	...	Kharak Singh
Gulshan Grover	...	Kabira
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Devi Prasad
Mukesh Khanna	...	Police Inspector, Prakash
Asrani	...	Bank Manager
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sulabha Arya	...	Raju's mom
Dinesh Hingoo	...	Chaman Jhinga
Mushtaq Khan	...	Devi Prasad's servant
Razak Khan	...	Gang Member
Kashmira Shah	...	Kabira's Sidekick
Namrata Shirodkar	...	Dancer

Storyline

Baburao is a landlord in India, who is very near-sighted, and always in financial trouble. He has a tenant named Raja, who has not paid his rent for several months. He also has anther tenant named Shyam, who has come to the city to look for a job in his late father's place, but is unable to find employment. The three men quarrel amongst themselves frequently. Then one day, the three men get a phone call from a kidnapper named Kabira, and decide to make use of this phone call to overcome their financial problems - pretend to be the real kidnappers, increase the ransom amount, keep the incremental amount for themselves, and then give the original ransom demanded to Kabira. Will they get away with this idea?

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | kidnapping | telephone call | daydreamer | mistaken identity | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Musical | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

31 March 2000 (India)

Also Known As:

Fraud Business

Filming Locations:

Sun City, South Africa

Company Credits

Production Co:

A.G. Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

156 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "Mujhse milti hai..." filmed on Akshay Kumar and Rambha, whose promos were aired on television, was deleted from the final cut of the movie.

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Goofs

Paresh Rawal's phone is shown red in some scenes while in some scenes it's black.

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Quotes

Raju: [Baburao is trying to pay off all his debt even before getting money from kidnappers] Cow is grazing and you are planning to sell curd !
Baburao Ganpatrao Apte: What?
Raju: Dont plan for expenditure before we get money

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Connections

Remake of Ramji Rav Speaking (1989)

User Reviews

A light comedy everyone will enjoy

I never expected much from this movie, because of the cast: Fading Sunil Shetty, sabseboringKhiladi/monkeyboy Akki and serious Tabu. The only hope i had was in Paresh Rawal. After seeing him in the hilarious Andaz Apna Apna (Highly recommended), he was to be taken notice of.

So when I did watch it I was shocked to say the least. I found Hera Pheri to be one the best comedies of the decade. Just forget about the cheap attempts of David Dhawan called comedy. This is the real deal.

The story is simple (as is with many good movies). The 3 protagonists Shyam (Sunil Shetty), Raju (Akshay Kumar) and Babu Rao (Paresh Rawal) are all in dire need of money. Shyam needs it to pay back an old friend (Om Puri) so he can get his(as in Puri's) sister married. Raju needs it for his mother and Babu Rao to pay back loans his father took. When a local rich man's grand daughter gets kidnapped by 'dangerous' gangster Kabira (Gulshan Grover) calls Babu Rao's number by mistake, Raju sees an end to all their problems. He suggests they play a game, do some hera pheri. And the movie is off to take you for an awesome ride.

Performances by far surprised me. Sunil Shetty I never liked, but his performance as the somewhat naive do-gooder was wonderful. Akki ape also surprised me in his sense of comedic timing. But Paresh was the biggest surprise. Even though he was my only hope for this movie, he came out ten times better than I expected. He deserved the best comedian Filmfare Award, that he did receive for 2000. Tabu (Anu) as another person in need of money who fights with Shyam for a job is also competent. It is a small role but as always she leaves her mark. Asrani in a tiny role also gives some laughs. Om Puri was also excellent in his small role.

So Bravo Priyadarshan saheb! Once again you've shown that you are a unique and intelligent filmmaker with a lot of tricks up your sleeve. One tip though, don't think too much about the logic of the story or the probability. Just turn off your brain for a few hours and enjoy. You'll find yourself cracking up every time you think of "Kabira speaking". Watch the movie and you'll know what I mean.