Hera Pheri 3: Will it be a success without Akshay Kumar?

Akshay Kumar, once the mainstay of the Hera Pheri franchise, is no longer part of it. The core cast for the new Hera Pheri film encores Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty. But instead of Akshay, the film will feature John Abraham.

For those who will miss Akshay in Hera Pheri 3, here’s good news. Two characters have been incorporated to pay homage to Akshay’s character.

Says producer Firoz A Nadiadwallah, “Akshay played the roguish and very popular character Raju in Hera Pheri and Phir Hera Pheri. We have incorporated references in the dialogue to his character to reveal that he’s gone missing.Writer-director Neeraj Vora has included two characters named Raju, who could have been played by Akshay. One is a character called Raju Khabri, a roguish police informer played by Abhishek Bachchan, and the other is Raju Duplicate played by John Abraham, who makes a living selling pirated copies of Bhojpuri films.”

Apparently, both the characters were written with Akshay Kumar in mind. 

Never mind that he is no more a part of the franchise.