Akshay Kumar starrer Welcome 3 marks a Hera Pheri reunion with Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal

Akshay Kumar celebrated his 56th birthday by presenting the teaser and a cast reveal for the upcoming film, Welcome to the Jungle. The film marks the third installment in the Welcome franchise, with Kumar being part of the first and the third film. The second film starred John Abraham in the lead role. Welcome 3 is also notable for it will mark an on-screen reunion from another much-loved franchise featuring the actor.

2 things you need to know

• Akshay Kumar celebrates his birthday on September 9, every year - he turns 56 today.
• Welcome to the Jungle, is set to feature an ensemble cast of 24 actors, Akshay Kumar included..

Welcome 3 will mark an on-screen Hera Pheri reunion

The teaser for Welcome 3 - dubbed Welcome to the Jungle - came as a welcome surprise on Akshay Kumar's birthday, for fans of the actor. Besides revealing the massive and star-studded ensemble cast, the teaser also revealed a soon-to-be on-screen reunion for the much-loved Hera Pheri trio.

(The official poster for Welcome 3 | Image: akshaykumar/Instagram)

The ensemble cast, amongst other names, also featured Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal had essayed the roles of Raju, Shyam and Baburao Ganpatrao Aapte in both the original film Hera Pheri (2000) as well as its sequel Phir Hera Pheri (2006). Besides the Hera Pheri trio, Welcome 3 will also star Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, Daler Mehndi, Mika Singh, Rahul Dev, Mukesh Tiwari, Sharib Hashmi, Inaamulhaq, Zakir Hussain, Yashpal Sharma. Among th actresses it will star Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani and Vrihi Kodvara.

Hera Pheri 3 in the works after much back-and-forth

The third installment of the Hera Pheri franchise was embroiled in controversy for months which began with Akshay Kumar's exit from the film, announced by the actor last year. Fans did not receive this news well with several hashtags being trended demanding the actor's return to the franchise. Additonally, there were reports of Kartik Aaryan joining the cast of the film post Kumar's exit. After much deliberation, news of the original trio being retained for Hera Pheri 3 was announced by Suniel Shetty on his Linkedin profile. His post confirmed, "So Hera Pheri 3 is finally happening! Look forward to being back on set with Pareshji & Akki. Like all good things, this one took some time, but it’s a relief to finally have an answer to this question."