Amid all the mud-slinging, did Paresh Rawal quit 'Hera Pheri 3' due to copyright issues? Priyadarshan says 'Akshay Kumar bought the entire rights for Rs 10 crore from...'

The official announcement of Hera Pheri 3 cheered all cinegoers as they were excited to see the iconic characters of Raju (Akshay Kumar), Shyam (Suniel Shetty) and Baburao (Paresh Rawal) on the big screen. However, the sudden exit of the latter shocked and disappointed everyone.

Now, filmmaker Priyadarshan, who was supposed to direct Hera Pheri 3 , revealed that Akshay Kumar had tears in his eyes when he came to know about Paresh Rawal’s exit.

The copyright issue

In an interview with Mid-day, the director also revealed, “Akshay bought the entire rights of the Hera Pheri franchise for Rs 10 crore from Firoz Nadiadwala, who had produced the first two [parts]. This is not just for Hera Pheri 3 but the entire franchise. I know this as I have seen the paperwork for it.”

Priyadarshan added, “In the absence of these and also since Mr Nadiadwala, the producer of the original films, issued notice to our client and raised issues on the making of the film, our client chose to exit and returned the money with interest by terminating the Term sheet.”

What Akshay Kumar said about Paresh Rawal’s exit

“Firstly, I’d like to tell you that using such kind of word for my co-star, foolish, is something I’d not appreciate. That’s not right. I have been working with him for the last 32 years. We are very good friends. He’s a great actor. I really admire him. I don’t think this is a place where I am going to talk about it because… it’s a very serious matter. It is a matter which is going to be handled by the courts. Hence, I don’t think I am going to speak about it here,” said the actor at Housefull 5’s trailer launch.