Neeraj Vora

Vora was slated to direct Hera Pheri 3, but ultimately was replaced by Ahmed Khan following the departure of actors John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan and Sunil Shetty, due to conflicts with Vora. Vora was retained as the film's executive producer, but following his stroke in October 2016 and his death in December 2017, it was confirmed on May 11, 2018 that Hera Pheri 3 will now be directed by Indra Kumar. But now Indra Kumar has left the film and the original director Priyadarshan has confirmed that he will direct the movie with the three original protagonists Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal.

Neeraj Vora, who had been suffering from an illness for a long time, died at the age of 54 on 14 December 2017. The actor-director was reportedly in a coma from past 13 months after suffering from a massive heart-attack and brain stroke. He reportedly breathed his last at 4 am at Criti Care hospital in Andheri, Mumbai.Vora had been staying at producer Firoz Nadiadwala’s house since October 2016 after slipping into coma due to a heart-attack followed by a brain stroke. Nadiadwala had brought him to his home and converted a room into a make-shift Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

After Circus in 1993, Neeraj Vora, Ashutosh Gowarikar and Deepak Tijori got together and made Pehla Nasha, with Deepak Tijori as lead actor. Neeraj Vora was the writer and his he along with his brother directed music as Neeraj-Uttank. Later his career in writing took off after he wrote for Rangeela and then Akele Hum Akele Tum, Josh, Badshah, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Awara Paagal Deewana, Deewane Huye Paagal, Ajnabee, Hera Pheri and Phir Hera Pheri among many others. Vora's work has always been appreciated by the critics. For Phir Hera Pheri, film critic Taran Adarsh said: "Vora's dialogues, as always, are outstanding!"

His 1992 Gujarati play Aflatoon, which was a superhit was adopted by Rohit Shetty for Golmaal. The play was written and directed by Neeraj Vora. It was adapted from Harsh Shivsharan's original Marathi play Ghar-Ghar.

During his college days, he started working professionally as an actor and he received intercollegiate awards for drama. In 1984, he worked for the film Holi, by Ketan Mehta and later did a television show Choti Badi Baatien, Circus.

Neeraj Vora (22 January 1963 – 14 December 2017) was an Indian film director, writer, actor and composer from Gujarat. He made a mark in Bollywood with his work as a writer for Aamir Khan's film Rangeela. His directorial debut was Khiladi 420 in 2000. Later in 2006, he wrote and directed Phir Hera Pheri. He suffered a stroke in October 2016, putting him in coma. He was working on Hera Pheri 3 before he went into coma and died on 14 December 2017 at 3 a.m. in Criti Care hospital, Mumbai.

Vora was born in Bhuj in a Gujarati family in 1963. But he grew up in Santacruz, a suburb of Mumbai. His father, Pandit Vinayak Rai Nanalal Vora was a classical musician and a proponent of Tar-Shehnai. His father popularised Tar-Shehnai as the solo instrument for classical music.