When Hera Pheri 3 was announced everyone got excited as they get to enjoy the continuation of Hera Pheri team featuring Akshay Kumar, Suneil Shetty and Paresh Rawal under Priyadarshan's direction.
But when the news of Paresh Rawal walking out of the project came out, everyone got shocked. Paresh Rawal rubbished the claim of creative differences saying "I wish to put it on record that my decision to step away from 'Hera Pheri 3' was not due to creative differences."
In the midst of all this, reports came that Akshay Kumar sued Paresh Rawal for Rs 25 crs damages. A source shared “Paresh displayed a blatant disregard for professional integrity or commercial morality. If he wanted to not do the film, he should have said so before signing the legal contract, accepting the signing amount and making the producer spend so much money on the shoot.”"
Director Priyadarshan speaking to scribes shared "I don't know why this happened because Paresh didn't inform us. Before starting the film, Akshay asked me to check with both Paresh and Suniel and I did and both were onboard," He added "I don't have anything to lose but Akshay has invested money and that could be the reason why he is taking this action. Paresh Rawal hasn't spoken to me till date."
Paresh Rawal however said , "I am not aware of this yet." He clarified “I know it came as a shock to many. We three make a great combination with Priyadarshanji directing us, but the fact is that I opted out because today I don’t feel like a part of it.”
Reports have it that Paresh Rawal demanded a whopping Rs 25crs as remuneration and this did not go down well with Akshay Kumar. A source shared "Rawal demanded close to Rs 25 crore as his fee. He felt that the film would work because of the nostalgia of his character Babu Rao and that he needed to hike the fee. This irked Kumar, who refused to give in to the actor's demand."
Suneil Shetty shared "I have no clue about this. This is absolutely shocking. I first thought about texting him, and then I thought I'd meet him and would discuss it. I have had no word about it with anybody. Even Akshay is clueless as to what happened." He added "This is a crisis. We are in the middle of this film, and this is the biggest shock."
He continued "We were going to begin shooting next year. We had already started, in fact. We shot a promo. It's a big thing. This is so shocking. I can't make sense of this. And you know who sent it? Athiya and Ahaan - they both sent it to me within 15 minutes, asking 'papa what is this?'. And I was here doing my interviews, and I felt like 'holy s***'."