Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan made six films together in substantial narrative roles before Haiwaan: Yeh Dillagi, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Tu Chor Main Sipahi, Keemat, Aarzoo and Tashan. If you only have time for one, start with Main Khiladi Tu Anari. It gives their contrasting screen energies the cleanest two-hero setup. Add Yeh Dillagi to see them as romantic rivals, then Tashan for their last substantial co-starring film before the reunion.
Haiwaan changes the temperature. The new thriller places Saif’s visually impaired hero against Akshay’s outright antagonist, while most of their earlier films turned difference into banter, rivalry or reluctant teamwork. This guide covers their complete six-film narrative collaboration and where each movie is currently available in India. Ensemble appearances as themselves in Om Shanti Om and the Bombay Talkies title song are not counted as co-starring films.
Choose your route through all six films
Availability note: India streaming options below were checked on 9 September 2026 and can change. A listed channel may require its own add-on subscription.
1. Yeh Dillagi (1994)
IMDb 5.9/101994IndiaDirector: Naresh Malhotra
Why it matters in the pairing: their first shared year did not begin with a buddy-action formula. Yeh Dillagi makes Akshay and Saif brothers drawn into the same love triangle with Kajol’s Sapna. Akshay plays the more responsible Vijay, while Saif’s Vicky is the impulsive younger brother.
Watch this before Haiwaan if you want the sharpest contrast with the reunion. Here, their conflict stays inside family, class and romance rather than a hero-villain pursuit. It also shows that the pairing could work without making both actors action equals.
2. Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994)
IMDb 6.5/101994IndiaDirector: Sameer Malkan
Why it is the essential pick: the premise turns their difference into the engine. Akshay is the police officer pursuing revenge; Saif is the movie star who follows him to research a role. One man treats danger as work, the other initially treats it as material.
That makes it the most useful preparation for understanding why their reunion attracts attention. The film builds around friction between physical authority and comic disruption, then asks the mismatched pair to function together. Haiwaan takes the familiarity created by films like this and points it toward open hostility.
3. Tu Chor Main Sipahi (1996)
IMDb 5.1/101996IndiaDirector: Guddu Dhanoa
Why it advances the formula: Akshay’s Inspector Amar is trying to catch Saif’s thief Raja, so the opposition is built into the title. The story then moves into a town controlled by a criminal power, creating room for cop-versus-thief tension to become an uneasy common cause.
This is the cleanest pre-Haiwaan example of the pair starting on opposite sides of the law. The important difference is tone and destination: Tu Chor Main Sipahi uses opposition to produce partnership, while Haiwaan is being sold around a far more dangerous divide.
4. Keemat: They Are Back (1998)
IMDb 5.4/101998IndiaDirector: Sameer Malkan
Why it changes the flavour: instead of assigning them respectable jobs, Keemat casts Akshay and Saif as small-time crooks Dev and Ajay. After a man’s death draws them toward his waiting family, their lies keep them in a situation that demands more responsibility than either man expected.
The pairing remains central, but the hook is guilt and attempted repair rather than a professional mismatch. Choose it when you want their shared-screen rhythm inside a broader mix of action, comedy and family melodrama.
5. Aarzoo (1999)
IMDb 5.0/101999IndiaDirector: Lawrence D’Souza
Why it is the melodramatic outlier: Madhuri Dixit’s Pooja loves and marries Akshay’s Vijay. After Vijay is believed dead in an air crash, Saif’s Amar becomes the man who supports her and eventually marries her. Vijay’s return turns grief and loyalty into a charged triangle.
This is not the film to pick for breezy two-hero banter. Its value in the marathon is seeing the actors used as competing emotional possibilities around the same woman, with loss and obligation carrying more weight than action-comedy chemistry.
6. Tashan (2008)
IMDb 3.9/102008IndiaDirector: Vijay Krishna Acharya
Why it belongs at the end of the catch-up: Tashan is their last substantial co-starring film before Haiwaan, but it is not a return to the stripped-down buddy setup. Saif’s call-centre worker Jimmy, Akshay’s enforcer Bachchan Pandey, Kareena Kapoor’s Pooja and Anil Kapoor’s Bhaiyyaji become tangled in a chase around stolen money.
The ensemble scale makes it a useful closing watch. By 2008, Akshay and Saif were no longer being sold simply as the complementary duo of Main Khiladi Tu Anari. Haiwaan now brings them back with a cleaner confrontation and a more severe hero-villain split.
What the marathon reveals before Haiwaan
What connects them is the way filmmakers used contrast: responsible brother versus impulsive brother, policeman versus actor, cop versus thief, two crooks sharing a burden, romantic rivals, then players in a larger ensemble chase.
Haiwaan makes that history useful by refusing an easy repeat. Saif is positioned as the hero and Akshay as the threat. If you want one film before the new release, choose Main Khiladi Tu Anari. If you want the full six-film co-starring arc, watch them chronologically and finish with Tashan, then use our Haiwaan release guide for the latest cinema and streaming details.
Related coverage
Haiwaan Movie Review: Akshay Kumar’s Villain Turn Faces Saif Ali Khan’s Blind Hero
Haiwaan review: Saif Ali Khan gives Priyadarshan’s Oppam remake a human centre, but Akshay Kumar’s villain and the suspense are blunted by
Read Next →
Why Akshay Kumar Chose to Play a Full Villain in Haiwaan
Akshay Kumar says Haiwaan’s full-villain role took him outside his comfort zone. Here is how the casting reshapes Priyadarshan’s Oppam dynamic.
Read Next →
Haiwaan vs Oppam: What Priyadarshan Has Changed in the Hindi Remake
A spoiler-light guide to Haiwaan’s remake changes, followed by a full comparison of its story, characters, parentage twist and ending with Oppam.
Read Next →