‘Haiwaan’ movie review: Saif Ali Khan labours in a defanged Priyadarshan thriller

As an overindulgent Akshay Kumar goes overboard, ‘Haiwaan’ loses its bite.

Updated - September 11, 2026 06:25 pm IST

Saif Ali Khan in ‘Haiwaan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A blind man, an innocent child, and an unhinged monster. As director Priyadarshan recreates Oppam (2016) for a Hindi audience, he sets the stage for an engrossing sensory thriller. It follows a visually impaired protagonist, Shyam (Saif Ali Khan), who accidentally becomes the protector of a young girl targeted by a ruthless serial killer, Parshuram (Akshay Kumar). The imagery of a thriller where the only man who can save a target can’t see the killer is appetising bait that pulls us to the edge of our seats.

Alongside Sabu Cyril and Divakar Mani, the seasoned filmmaker designs an atmosphere where shadows and silhouettes combine to create subtext. In Saif, he has a performer whose visible hunger to become the character these days promises a believable clash. Playing a character etched for posterity by the inimitable Mohanlal, he internalises the blindness and creates a gaze devoid of intent. In his own way, he puts in the effort to bring the required gravitas to the character of a maintenance man in charge of a high-rise.

However, ingredients don’t make the dish. Intent does. The makers follow a remake checklist, with little effort to harmonise the flavours of the original.

Akshay Kumar in ‘Haiwaan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Coming back to Saif, the story provides Shyam with specks of charisma meant for a larger-than-life star, which Saif has left behind or fails to summon. Shyam has a heightened sense of smell and hearing, which allows him to more than compensate for his lack of sight. A confidant of a retired Chief Justice, Pradhan (Boman Irani), who is haunted by a flawed judgment, Shyam’s skills are tested when Pradhan trusts him with the safety of his ‘illegitimate’ daughter before he is killed. The police see Shyam as a suspect while the real culprit keeps lurking for his next kill for almost 90 minutes, making it an increasingly exasperating experience.

There is plenty to play with, but as he mostly does, Priyadarshan alters the DNA of the original and flattens it into a straightforward commercial vehicle, paced with fast-cut action sequences and a screaming background score. The writing gradually abandons all subtlety. The narrative mechanisms are fully exposed, the red herrings are devoid of colour, and the plot devices become visible from a distance. It seems the motivation is to bring the audience to theatres to watch Akshay’s theatrics and applaud Saif’s effort to become the character. It doesn’t work, as the story has no scope for a Tu Khiladi Main Anari reunion. It demands a performer who can blend vulnerability and mass. It needs a Samuthirakani (who played Akshay’s character in Oppam) kind of surprise package who relies on chilling, muted glances and a terrifying voice.

In adapting the story to suit the star, the antagonist loses the haunting, unpredictable stillness that made the original character so deeply unsettling and the narrative its tone. To underscore that he is playing a dark character, Akshay overdoes it, swapping genuine psychological menace for relentless hamming. In trying to contrast Saif, he seems to have forgotten that both characters come from the same socio-cultural space. Like the forgettable experiment with Nagesh Kukunoor in 8X10 Tasveer, he fails to find the true pulse of inner negativity.

In his last hurrah, Asrani brings his classic wit to the fore in an interrogation scene that reminds one of Priyadarshan’s Hungama in the Hindi belt, and a waft of nostalgia fills the theatre. However, in the absence of fresh jokes, the rest of the supporting cast, Sharib Hashmi, Rajesh Sharma, and Rajpal Yadav, could not sustain the spirit, and the banter feels forced after a point. Sayami Kher plays the trope of a smart cop who helps Shyam clear his name. The talented Shriya Pilgaonkar is also reduced to a checkpoint.

Displacing the story without re-rooting its soul no longer works. With the texture erased, the cat-and-mouse game becomes a showcase of Shyam’s skills. It drags on and on in the second half with little effort to justify the motivation of the killer to go after the father first and leave the daughter for the climax. If the original was a slow-burn mystery, the adaptation, which ironically lasts about 15 minutes longer, tastes like an overcooked recipe, eventually standing as a betrayal of Priyadarshan’s virasat in Hindi cinema.