Akshay Kumar reveals he was first offered Suniel Shetty’s role of Shyam in ‘Hera Pheri’

Akshay Kumar revealed he chose Raju’s role in Hera Pheri over the lead to explore a mischievous character. Director Priyadarshan confirmed the actor preferred experimentation, shaping one of Bollywood’s most iconic comic performances

Mumbai: Actor Akshay Kumar, who is all set to be seen in ‘Bhoot Bangla’, has revealed an unknown fact about his superhit film ‘Hera Pheri’ and his character Raju.

Ahead of the release of his film ‘Bhoot Bangla’ Akshay Kumar and director Priyadarshan spoke about their long association, about horror-comedy genre, about ‘Dhurandhar-2’ and more. When asked about Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar’s association and how it started with the film ‘Hera Pheri’, Priyadarshan said, “I was telling him about the role. It was a natural hero–heroine concept, and when I narrated the whole thing, he said, ‘I don’t want this. I will play the other guy.’”

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Further clarifying, Akshay Kumar added, “Actually, he wanted me to play Shyam’s role because there was a heroine opposite him and everything was there.” Priyadarshan continued the conversation and revealed, “Suddenly, he said, ‘I don’t want to play this role. Let Suniel Shetty be the hero; I will play the other guy.’”

Akshay Kumar further added, “I told him I would play second fiddle to him. So, I played Raju’s role.”

When probed further on why he chose to play Raju instead of Shyam in ‘Hera-Pheri’, Akshay Kumar answered, “Because I had never done such a role before, someone so mischievous. I had mostly done action roles and ‘seedha’ (gentle) roles in films like Dhadkan and Ek Rishta. When he was narrating ‘Hera Pheri’, I found that the character was crazy about money. So I requested him, ‘Can I try this role?’”

For the uninitiated, ‘Hera Pheri’ marked the first collaboration between director Priyadarshan and actor Akshay Kumar. The film went on to become a massive hit and gave a fresh boost to Akshay’s career. Its sequel, Phir Hera Pheri (2006), also turned out to be a big success.