Producer Firoz Nadiadwala has been accused of violating copyright agreements of Hera Pheri franchise.
A producer from South moved the Madras High Court, claiming he, not Firoz Nadiadwala, owns the copyright.
The producer claimed that Nadiadwala was authorised to make only one Hindi remake, but he went on to make a sequel.
Hera Pheri 3 is one of the highly anticipated upcoming films. It has now landed in legal trouble as a producer from South has moved the Madras High Court, claiming that not Firoz Nadiadwala, but he owns the copyright to the franchise. A copyright infringement suit was filed against Nadiadwala.
Hera Pheri 3 lands in legal trouble due to copyright issue
Seven Arts International Limited, a production house, has claimed that they have the copyright to the Hera Pheri franchise, not Firoz Nadiadwala. A report in Bar and Bench on Thursday stated that the production house has filed a petition alleging that Nadiadwala was authorised to make only one Hindi remake of the Malayalam original Ramji Rao Speaking (1989), which was Hera Pheri (2000) by Priyadarshan. Nadiadwala later made the sequel Phir Hera Pheri (2006), and has now sold the rights for the third instalment to Akshay Kumar’s production house, Cape of Good Films.
The Madras HC questioned producer Firoz Nadiadwala on whether Hera Pheri 3 is being made at all.
What Seven Arts International said
GP Vijayakumar, MD of Seven Arts International, told HT City that he bought the entire rights for the franchise from the original producers of Ramji Rao Speaking, Adithya Films, in 2022.
"They informed me that Firoz Nadiadwala had been given the right to make one Hindi version of the film. But he made a second version, which released in 2006. He is not authorised to make a sequel or prequel, or use the characters," he added.
When Vijayakumar was asked why he didn't take action when Phir Hera Pheri was made, he said, "While the first film was directed by Priyadarshan, who we are close to, the second film was directed by Neeraj Vora, and the copyright holders at the time didn’t realise what happened."
Later, the original producers and he realised that Nadiadwala had committed a violation and cheating. At that time, they let it go and thought of producing the next version in Hindi. When they approached Akshay, they came to know that Nadiadwala had sold the rights to Akshay’s production house.
"We sent Nadiadwala a legal notice on how he could sell something he did not own. I had no option but to move the Court," Vijayakumar added.
Akshay’s production house and the spokesperson informed that they bought the rights from Nadiadwala, believing that he owns them.
Priyadarshan, who will direct Hera Pheri 3, said he has "no idea" about it.
