Upon its release on 9 June 2006, the film was a major commercial success,[3][4] becoming the 8th highest grosser of the year. Over the years, the film has attained a cult status and significant fan following across generations owing to Kumar's comic timing as well as its supporting casts like Rawal, Lever and Yadav. It is now considered a milestone in comedy films, as well as one of the best sequels ever made. The film is unofficial remake of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).[5]
Hera Pheri ended with the trio of Raju; Ghanshyam, also known as Shyam; and Baburao Ganpatrao Apte , also known as Babu; finding themselves wealthy beyond their imagination. Phir Hera Pheri tells the story of what happens after they become wealthy. The film begins with a prologue bringing the audience up to reason, stating that each has suffered a personal loss despite their new riches. Raju lost his ailing mother; Shyam lost his only love, Anuradha Shivshanker Panikar, in an accident; and Babu, having nothing to lose in the first place, lost the little traces of common sense that he did possess.
In the present, the trio each has a car, a lavish mansion with a huge swimming pool, that Babu is yet to familiarize himself with, and a very easy life, while splurging on various luxuries. However, things take a turn when Raju receives a phone call on Babu's old telephone with a scheme to double his wealth in 21 days. Raju meets with an attractive young woman named Anuradha Munjal, who is the manager of an agency called "Laxmi Chit Fund" in the business district of Mumbai, and convinces Shyam and Babu as well to go along with it. Raju first arranges for ₹30 lakhs from Shyam and Babu, and then convinces a simpleton named Pappu to contribute the remaining balance of ₹20 lakhs, so that he can come up with the minimum investment of ₹1 crore, which Anuradha has promised to double. After 21 days, the trio visits the Laxmi Chit Fund office to collect their doubled wealth, only to discover that Anuradha and her company have disappeared. To make matters worse, they do not even have possession of their mansion, as Raju had already sold it off to arrange the amount of ₹50 lakhs. Realising that Anuradha was a con woman and that they are now penniless, the devastated trio has to now live in a shanty room in a chawl (Indian tenement), and Anjali Patekar is the daughter of the chawl accountant, who also comes by to collect the rent.
Meanwhile, Pappu shows up at the trio's mansion the next day to pick up his portion of the money, only to learn that Raju has left and the mansion is now in possession of a Parsi gun collector. Pappu is now in trouble because he borrowed money from a lisping, but dreaded underworld gangster, Tiwari Seth, who will kill him if he does not pay up the amount on time. Raju runs into Anuradha at a dance bar one day, but is later unable to find her when he returns there with Babu and Shyam. Pappu then meets Raju, and pretends to be sympathetic on learning about the scam. He tricks Raju and brings the trio to Tiwari Seth, telling him that they are the ones who took the money. Tiwari Seth threatens the trio and tells them that they have to come up with the money or else they will be killed, but the trio manages to escape while being taken home by some of his henchmen. Raju, Shyam and Babu are about to leave the city when Raju remembers that he owes money to Anjali. The trio heads over to her house and is surprised to find that she is Pappu's sister. Tiwari Seth's henchmen arrive and kidnap Anjali because Pappu has not returned the money. Feeling guilty that he is the one who got Anjali in trouble, Raju decides to approach Tiwari Seth and attempt to get her released. Shyam and Babu refuse to leave without them and decide to stay as well.
The trio returns to Tiwari Seth to request him to release Anjali, and he orders them to bring the money, releasing Anjali. Raju, Shyam and Babu now have three days to come up with ₹40 lakhs to pay back Tiwari Seth, or else they will themselves be killed. Raju overhears their neighbour, Munna Bhai, planning to steal drugs from another gangster, Nanji Bhai, and wrongly assumes they are talking about stealing money. Raju comes up a plan for the trio to steal from Munna Bhai. Meanwhile, Pappu steals a collection of antique guns from the new Parsi owner of the trio's former mansion, but sells the 3 most valuable ones (worth crores each) locally to Kachra Seth, a scrap dealer who also deals in stolen goods, and in turn sells the guns to the trio. After Munna Bhai's gang steals from Nanji Bhai's hideout, the trio wears clown costumes and uses the guns to successfully steal from him. However, the theft from Munna Bhai only contains drugs and no cash, but Raju tells Shyam and Babu that the drugs are worth at least ₹3 crores. The trio believes that if they can sell the drugs to Kachra Seth, and pay off the loan of Tiwari Seth, they can also become rich. Meanwhile, Anjali realises that Raju offered himself as collateral to Tiwari Seth in order to save her life and joins hands with him.
Subsequently, the trio is surprised to find Anuradha being pursued by some criminals and rescue her. Anuradha reveals that the entire scam was hatched by Kabira, who was the gangster in the previous film) and his close aide, Chhota Chetan, to seek revenge from the trio. The only reason Anuradha went along with it was that the criminals had kidnapped the young daughter of her sister and Kabira's gang member (who was part of the kidnapping plan from the previous film). Their money was converted to diamonds to pay the ransom, but Anuradha escaped with them once she discovered her niece had escaped and hid them under a decoration of a circus train (named "Kook-Doo-Koo"). Meanwhile, Munna Bhai's henchmen find the drugs the trio stole and take them back. Tiwari Seth's henchmen also reach to collect the money at the same time the trio returns with Anjali and Anuradha, whom Tiwari Seth's henchmen then kidnap. After planning on using fake suitcases to trick Nanji Bhai into giving them money and then pay off Tiwari Seth's loan with that money, the trio summons Tiwari Seth and Nanji Bhai to arrive at Great Royal Circus; Pappu, Munna Bhai and Chhota Chetan all overhear and travel to the circus as well. The Parsi gun collector too sees Munna Bhai with his guns and follows him to the circus, while the group of actors that drop the trio off to the circus also learn about the money there and decide to follow. The trio initially tricks Nanji Bhai's gang with the empty suitcases and takes the money, which they open to discover that the banknotes are artificial and comically contain the photographs of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan instead of Mahatma Gandhi.
With no other choice, the trio decides to give Nanji Bhai's money to Tiwari Seth, hoping he will assume that it is real. He does so and releases Anuradha and Anjali, but after Nanji Bhai discovers the empty suitcase, he confronts the trio and gets into an argument with Babu, who accidentally reveals that the money is fake. Munna Bhai, Pappu, Chhota Chetan, the Parsi gun collector and the group of actors all reach the place. The trio takes the drugs and escapes from them all as a complicated pursuit ensues. During the pursuit, Anuradha is reunited with her niece, and everyone begins searching for Anuradha's diamonds after learning about them, but they are thrown down all over the ground in public by a gorilla. Soon, the police arrive at the scene and arrest the gangs of Tiwari Seth, Munna Bhai, Pappu, Kachra Seth, Nanji Bhai and Chhota Chetan for their crimes, while Raju, Shyam and Babu escape along with Anuradha, Anjali and Anuradha's niece. Raju escapes with the bag containing the three antique guns with him, unaware the bag also contains Pappu's mobile phone. Before his arrest, Pappu informs Shyam and Babu that the guns with Raju are worth ₹6 crores. Meanwhile, Raju, not knowing the value of the guns, attempts to throw them into the river for good, but fails as they fall onto the broken part of the bridge. The film ends on a cliffhanger as Raju reaches out to retrieve the guns again, while Pappu's mobile phone (which he had discovered earlier and held into his mouth) starts ringing as Shyam and Babu desperately attempt to call Raju.[6]
The song "Aye Meri Zohrajabeen" was only seen in the end title credits. The song became so popular that it was added in the movie later. The dream sequence of Rawal was added following the song.
According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 10,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fifteenth highest-selling.[8]
The film received positive reviews from critics and earned ₹70 crore at the end of its theatrical run and it was a box-office blockbuster.[9]
Sequel
A sequel titled Hera Pheri 3 is planned, but the production was postponed after director Neeraj Vora died on 14 December 2017 after a prolonged illness. After the response from Firoz Nadiadwala, the sequel is under production and will be released soon.[10]
On 23 May 2018, it was confirmed that Hera Pheri 3 will now be directed by Indra Kumar and star the same team of Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, and Paresh Rawal in the lead. It was reported that the film will be shot on a start-to-finish schedule and Kumar confirmed to The Indian Express that the film will be ready for release in the second half of 2019 (but it didn't release in 2019). The film will continue the story of the previous two. Later, Indra Kumar left the project for unknown reasons and confirmed that Priyadarshan, who directed the first movie, will return as the director of the third.[11][12][13]
On 21 February 2023, some reports shooting on a promo for Hera Pheri 3 with Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal had started.[14]
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