Producer Firoz Nadiadwala is planning the third sequel to his hit comedy Hera Pheri but not with its original cast. Abhishek Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Nana Patekar will now replace the hilarious Baburao-Raju-Shyam trio, played by Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty respectively. The film goes on floors by the end of the year.

Our source said, “Hera Pheri is Firoz Nadiadwala’s biggest hit till date. Although his other films might have made more money, Hera Pheri is said to be one of the best comedies made in the last few years.

The Priyadarshan directed Hera Pheri had not opened well but it picked up and went on to become a huge hit. After that, Firoz made Phir Hera Pheri with the same cast but directed by Neeraj Vora. The third sequel is being planned for some time now.”

You wonder why the change of cast was imperative. Apparently, some differences cropped up between Akshay Kumar and Firoz Nadiadwala over the budget allotted for the third sequel.

The source added, “Akshay and Firoz could not come to a conclusion and Firoz then decided to completely change the cast of his film, which will now be titled New Hera Pheri.

Initially he had only thought of replacing Akshay with Abhishek (guess that would have been too personal) but later he decided to make a fresh team.”

Though Firoz Nadiadwala remained unavailable for comment, the buzz is that he took his new plan of action to director Anees Bazmee, who agreed to work on the film. “The new male cast of the third sequel is now locked. Only the leading lady is yet to be finalised.” Any takers?

- Mumbaimirror.com