Hera Pheri (2000 Film)

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About

Hera Pheri ("Foul Play" in English) is a 2000 comedy Bollywood movie directed by Priyadarshan and is widely regarded as a cult classic and one of the best Hindi comedy films ever made. The film is a remake of the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking and follows the characters Raju (played by Akshay Kumar), Shyam (played by Suniel Shetty) and Babu Bhaiya (played by Paresh Rawal) as they get involved in various comedic hi-jinks. The movie received a sequel titled Phir Hera Pheri (translates to "Foul Play Again") in 2006, with the original cast reprising their roles. Over the years, particularly in the early 2020s, Hera Pheri has inspired many memes, most of which are used as exploitable image macros online.

History

On March 31st, 2000, the Bollywood movie Hera Pheri was released in theaters. A trailer for the film has since been uploaded to YouTube^[1] by the channel "Old Bollywood Trailers" on November 27th, 2021, where it has gathered over 26,000 views in 10 months (seen below, left). The entire movie has also been uploaded to YouTube^[2] by the channel Goldmines Bollywood on April 23rd, 2017, gathering over 240 million views in over five years (seen below, right).

Reception

After initial hiccups with ticket sales, Hera Pheri picked up its revenue generation to become a box office success in the early 2000s, gathering over 24 crore rupees in India. The movie also won various prizes and accolades for Paresh Rawal's role as Babu Bhaiya, as well as Neeraj Voras' work on the screenplay and dialogues.^[3]

Online Presence

Hera Pheri and Phir Hera Pheri have gathered a notable cult following in Indian internet circles,^[4] ^[5] with Hera Pheri being voted as the best "Bollywood Film of All Time" in a poll conducted by The Indian Express in 2015.^[6]

The films have also inspired a steady series of memes that draw from nearly every scene in the films,^[7] the most notable efforts of which are made by "The Hera Pheri Meme Project" on Twitter, a gimmick account dedicated to making a meme out of every scene in the movie. ^[8]^[9]

Raju (Akshay Kumar) Scheme Meme Templates

In Phir Hera Pheri, Raju falls for a Ponzi scheme and attempted to recruit Shyam and various others in his "scheme." He starts to dress flamboyantly, leading to several memorable screencaps from the film.