MUMBAI: Priyadarshan has finally reacted to Hera Pheri producer Firoz Nadiadwala's allegations. He had said that the director's version of Hera Pheri was filled with depressing scenes. The classic comedy has had a huge fan following but the producer's revelations about Priyadarshan leaving the film mid-way came as a shock.

Now, Priyadarshan was asked about the length of the film that Nadiadwala had pointed out earlier saying that it was initially 3 hours and 40 minutes long. "How could I make a film as long as three hours and 40 minutes? It is a remake of a Malayalam film, and so, I knew what I was making. All these claims are false. The whole film was made in Chennai. It was mixed in my theatre. I completed the film and I gave the final copy to him." 

As for the film's remake rights, Nadiadwala had claimed that Priyadarshan had sold the Hindi remake rights to a filmmaker in Punjab. "Literally 10 days before the film’s release, we got to know that a filmmaker from Punjab had the rights to the film. I rushed to Chandigarh for the settlement. I had to pay him whatever he demanded. I have proof of all this,” Nadiadwala had said.

Reacting to this, Priyadarshan said, "How can I sell the rights, when I never had them? It is the original writers of the Malayalam film (Siddique and Lal, also the directors of that film) who sold it. It was not written by me. It was written by Siddique, the one who directed Bodyguard starring Salman Khan. They sold the rights to someone else. Then, we started the film (Hera Pheri) and we were supposed to buy the rights from them for Rs 5 lakh." 

Nadiadwala had claimed that he urged the film's cast to not sign the sequel Phir Hera Pheri saying that the producer would spoil their reputation.

Credits: Pinkvilla