There is a promising thriller buried somewhere inside Haiwaan, and that may be the most frustrating thing about Priyadarshan’s latest film. The ingredients are certainly there: Akshay Kumar stepping into an unusually dark role, Saif Ali Khan playing a visually impaired protagonist, and a story built around a dangerous cat-and-mouse chase. Add the director’s own Malayalam thriller Oppam as the foundation and a reunion between two stars who last shared the screen in Tashan, and the film has enough on paper to create genuine excitement. Unfortunately, the finished product struggles to turn those ingredients into the gripping big-screen thriller it wants to be.
The problem is not that Haiwaan lacks technical polish or ambition. Its cinematography gives Mumbai and the film’s chase sequences a handsome, atmospheric treatment, while Priyadarshan clearly understands how to stage moments of tension. The trouble begins when the screenplay has to connect those moments, because the narrative increasingly feels stretched, predictable and occasionally too convenient. At 2 hours and 42 minutes, the film asks for considerable patience, and the longer it runs, the more obvious its structural weaknesses become.
A strong premise trapped in an old-fashioned remake
Haiwaan follows Shyam Rane, played by Saif Ali Khan, a visually impaired musician, wrestler and security professional whose heightened senses become crucial once a violent threat enters his life. Boman Irani plays retired judge Pradhan, whose troubled past is connected to Parshuram Gokhale, the dangerous man portrayed by Akshay Kumar. Years after being punished for a crime he did not commit, Parshuram returns with revenge on his mind, turning Pradhan and his daughter Nandini into targets.
Once Pradhan is killed, Shyam finds himself responsible for protecting Nandini while trying to stay ahead of Parshuram. That setup gives Priyadarshan an excellent opportunity to build a thriller around sound, smell, touch and instinct rather than simply relying on conventional action. The Malayalam original Oppam, released in 2016 with Mohanlal in the lead, already demonstrated the potential of that idea. Haiwaan retains the basic framework but does not consistently find enough new material to justify its existence as a Hindi remake.
This becomes especially noticeable if you have watched Oppam, but even newcomers may feel that the film is following an older thriller template. Priyadarshan has said that he deliberately did not show the original film to the Hindi cast while developing the remake, wanting the actors to approach their characters independently. That is a sensible creative decision in theory, but keeping the performances separate from the original does not automatically give the screenplay a fresh identity.
The first half actually gives you reasons to stay optimistic. The film moves quickly, establishes the central danger without wasting too much time, and allows Shyam’s unusual abilities to become part of the storytelling. There is a sense that the pieces are being positioned for a tightly controlled survival thriller. Once the chase fully takes over, however, the screenplay becomes increasingly uneven, with abrupt transitions and situations that require the audience to accept too much without question.
Akshay and Saif cannot fix every problem
The biggest curiosity surrounding Haiwaan is the unusual casting of Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan. The two actors have not shared the screen since 2008’s Tashan, so their reunion naturally became part of the film’s selling point. Priyadarshan’s decision to cast Akshay as the antagonist also promised a change of pace for an actor more commonly associated with heroic or comic roles.
Akshay does have the physical presence required for Parshuram, but the character needed something more disturbing than physical intimidation. The film repeatedly tells us that this man is dangerous, almost monstrous, yet the performance does not always communicate the psychological menace that the story demands. There are flashes where Akshay looks suitably threatening, but the character never develops the unpredictable quality that could have made the chase genuinely frightening. Instead, his villain often feels like a familiar commercial-film antagonist placed inside a darker story.
Saif gets the more difficult part because Shyam cannot depend on sight to understand what is happening around him. His performance works best when the actor lets the character listen, pause and process rather than trying to announce every emotion. There are moments when Saif finds that rhythm, particularly when Shyam is forced to assess danger through his other senses. Yet the screenplay sometimes treats his blindness as a convenient action device rather than building the entire thriller around how a visually impaired man would realistically navigate these situations.
That is where the film’s credibility begins to crack. A thriller can ask an audience to accept heightened abilities, but it still needs internal rules, and Haiwaan occasionally breaks those rules whenever the story needs to move forward. Some confrontations that should feel dangerous instead become unintentionally amusing because the staging and character behaviour do not quite match the seriousness of the situation. Other sequences appear to jump from one development to another without giving the viewer enough connective tissue.
The supporting cast brings some much-needed life
The supporting performers are often more comfortable within the film’s tonal shifts than the central narrative. Sharib Hashmi gets room to add layers to Senior Inspector Ashok Shinde, giving the character a mixture of authority, humour and unpredictability. His performance becomes one of the film’s more dependable elements because the actor understands when to keep things restrained and when to let the character’s personality surface.
Shriya Pilgaonkar and Saiyami Kher also make useful contributions, with the latter playing Inspector Varsha Joshi. Boman Irani brings credibility to Pradhan, even though the character’s backstory occasionally feels more like a mechanism for pushing the revenge plot forward than a fully developed emotional thread. Asrani gets moments that showcase his familiar comic timing, but the writing around him is not always strong enough to make those scenes feel organically connected to the thriller.
There is also a wider question about Priyadarshan’s current creative comfort zone. The filmmaker has built a career across comedy, drama and thrillers, but Haiwaan sometimes feels caught between the sensibilities of an older Hindi commercial thriller and the expectations of a contemporary audience. The film wants dark action, emotional stakes, comic relief and star-driven entertainment at the same time, yet those ingredients do not always sit comfortably together.
That tonal imbalance is particularly damaging during the second half. Scenes designed to create tension can suddenly be followed by humour that drains the atmosphere, while serious confrontations occasionally lack the emotional weight needed to make their consequences matter. A few sequences are entertaining in isolation, but the overall journey becomes increasingly bumpy.
Does Haiwaan work as a thriller?
Only in parts. The basic premise is strong, the first half has momentum, and the central chase provides several opportunities for tension. However, the predictable screenplay, uneven transitions and long runtime prevent the film from maintaining that pressure throughout.
Is Haiwaan a remake of Oppam?
Yes. Haiwaan is Priyadarshan’s Hindi adaptation of his 2016 Malayalam thriller Oppam, which starred Mohanlal. The Hindi film retains the core premise involving a visually impaired protagonist protecting a young girl from a dangerous adversary while introducing its own cast and Hindi-market presentation.
How long is Haiwaan?
Haiwaan has a reported runtime of approximately 2 hours and 42 minutes. That length becomes noticeable because the film’s second half struggles to maintain the pace established earlier.
Are Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan good in Haiwaan?
Both actors have moments that work, but the material does not consistently make the most of either performer. Akshay brings physical menace to Parshuram but does not always find the psychological darkness the character needs, while Saif gives Shyam some effective quieter moments without completely overcoming the screenplay’s limitations.
Is Haiwaan better than Oppam?
That will largely depend on what you value in a thriller, but Haiwaan does not offer enough reinvention to make the original feel unnecessary. Oppam remains the more distinctive reference point because its premise was fresher in its original setting, while the Hindi version sometimes feels like a larger-scale recreation rather than a meaningful reinterpretation.
Is Haiwaan worth watching in theatres?
It is worth considering if you are particularly interested in the Akshay-Saif reunion, Priyadarshan’s filmmaking or crime thrillers with a mainstream action component. If you are expecting a consistently gripping thriller with airtight logic, the film’s uneven second half and stretched runtime may test your patience. Current reviews are mixed, with some praising the leads and genre treatment while others have criticised the dated writing and inconsistent execution.
Haiwaan Movie Review: The verdict
The irony of Haiwaan is that the film does not need a completely different story to work. It needs sharper writing, tighter pacing and greater confidence in the central idea. A visually impaired protagonist using his senses to survive a hunt by a ruthless killer should be enough to sustain a tense thriller, particularly when two established actors are placed on opposite sides of the conflict. Instead, the film repeatedly steps away from that strength and gets distracted by familiar commercial-film habits.
Priyadarshan has clearly tried to give Oppam a Hindi makeover rather than simply photocopying every aspect of the Malayalam production, and the film benefits from that ambition in its visual presentation and casting. But the screenplay remains too attached to an older style of storytelling, while several convenient developments weaken the suspense. The 164-minute runtime makes those shortcomings harder to overlook because the audience spends too long waiting for the film to regain the urgency it shows early on.
For me, the biggest missed opportunity is Akshay’s Parshuram. The idea of seeing him play a genuinely unsettling antagonist opposite Saif was one of Haiwaan‘s strongest hooks, yet the character never becomes as frightening as the buildup suggests. Saif is more convincing when he keeps Shyam understated, while the supporting cast frequently supplies the energy the central conflict is missing.
And then there is Mohanlal, whose presence carries an extra layer of significance for anyone familiar with Oppam. His involvement gives the film a connection to the Malayalam original that feels more meaningful than some of the Hindi remake’s attempts at reinvention. In the end, though, Haiwaan needed its own identity and a stronger pulse rather than relying on nostalgia, star power or the reputation of the film that inspired it.
PopcornRealm Verdict: 2.5/5
Haiwaan has a compelling premise, polished visuals and two stars with plenty of history behind them, but the film’s dated writing and uneven second half keep it from becoming the gripping thriller it promises to be.
