Akshay Kumar
Akshay KumarReuters

The third instalment of "Hera Pheri" has been facing troubles since the beginning in terms of casting the lead actors. The recent buzz is that "Heri Pheri 3" will now be directed by Ahmed Khan, not Neeraj Vohra.

Earlier, the third franchise was supposed to be made with the "Dostana" boys, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham. But, both of them opted out and then Akshay Kumar came to the rescue. Now, "Hera Pheri 3" will feature Akshay, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal, who were the lead actors in the previous instalments too.

Though the "Khiladi" actor agreed to do the project, he wanted Priyadarshan, who directed "Hera Pheri," to direct the third part instead of Neeraj, according to SpotboyE. Apparently, Akshay and Neeraj are not on good terms and thus both of them didn't want to work together. This was the reason why Akshay refused to sign the project initially.

But, now the director has been changed due to Akshay and it will be Ahmed Khan, DNA reported. "All issues including the ones Akshay had with the producer Firoz Nadiadwala have been sorted. Neeraj will focus on the screenplay and script while Ahmed is directing it. The film will roll from October this year," a source told the leading daily.

"The script that was written around Abhishek and John earlier has also been drastically modified to suit Akshay, Suniel and Paresh. The film will begin from where PHP ('Phir Hera Pheri') ended with Raju fleeing with the gun. Now Baburao and Ghyanshyam will be searching for him," the source added.

Meanwhile, Akshay is busy with her upcoming comedy drama, "Housefull 3," which has been scheduled to be released on June 3. The Sajid-Farhad directorial features Akshay, Abhishek, Riteish Deshmukh, Lisa Haydon, Boman Irani, Jacqueline Fernandez and Nargis Fakhri.