Haiwaan has the right trap and the wrong rhythm. Priyadarshan’s remake gives Saif Ali Khan a sympathetic centre and Akshay Kumar an outright-villain role, but its nearly 165-minute sprawl keeps breaking the suspense it should be tightening. The result is a glossy, occasionally effective thriller that arrives at its strongest chase material far too late.
Quick verdict: Wait for streaming unless the Akshay-Saif reunion is the event for you. Rating: 2/5.
Haiwaan at a glance
| Bingebaaz rating | 2/5 |
|---|---|
| Director | Priyadarshan |
| Lead cast | Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Boman Irani, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Saiyami Kher |
| Runtime | About 2 hours 44 minutes |
| Where to watch | In cinemas |
Priyadarshan builds atmosphere, then talks over it
The premise is made for controlled suspense. Shyam Rane, a visually impaired maintenance manager played by Saif, becomes the unlikely obstacle between a young girl and Parshuram, Akshay’s revenge-driven killer. Shyam’s heightened hearing, smell and touch ought to make uncertainty the thriller’s strongest tool.
There are flashes of that film. Shadows and silhouettes give the frame an anxious texture, while the later action and pursuit finally provide momentum. The technical craft can make individual confrontations land. Yet the screenplay keeps adding songs, comic detours and side stories when it needs to narrow the field. By the time the cat-and-mouse game takes command, the first half has spent too much of the film’s patience.
That is the central problem with Priyadarshan’s thriller craft here. His instinct for crowded comic worlds works against a story that needs isolation and uncertainty. Jokes around the police station, a wedding number and underdeveloped supporting threads do not merely extend the runtime. They repeatedly reset the tension, making the film feel assembled from competing tones rather than tightened around one escalating threat.
Akshay Kumar’s villain is visible before he is frightening
Akshay’s casting is still the movie’s most interesting gamble. Hindi cinema has spent years asking viewers to trust his efficiency and star confidence. Haiwaan tries to weaponise that familiarity by placing him on the other side of the chase.
The quieter moments suggest the better version of Parshuram, particularly when Akshay lets silence do the work. Too often, though, the performance is pushed towards booming laughter, growls and emphatic menace. Instead of allowing danger to remain unreadable, the film labels it in thick strokes. He looks ready to dominate the thriller, but the writing delays his impact and the performance frequently announces what it should make us fear.
Saif Ali Khan gives Shyam warmth, but the action strains belief
Saif has the more demanding role and the stronger emotional position. His Shyam is useful to everyone around him, protective without being saintly, and believable as the person a frightened mentor would trust. The restraint in his gaze and his attentive stillness give the character more humanity than the plot’s exposition does.
The difficulty comes when the screenplay treats Shyam’s heightened senses as nearly unlimited powers. The character begins to feel engineered for set pieces rather than bounded by a consistent physical reality. Saif remains easier to believe as Shyam the responsible man than as the near-superhuman action figure the film sometimes requires.
The background score creates pressure, then overplays it
A thriller about a hero who reads danger through sound should make listening central to the suspense. Haiwaan occasionally finds tension in its background score, but it rarely trusts that tension for long.
The background score is too eager to underline threat, while the songs interrupt rather than deepen the story. The music can enhance tension in individual moments, yet its louder passages frequently overpower the restraint the premise needs. A more disciplined soundscape might have made uncertainty the film’s sharpest weapon. Instead, noise often substitutes for dread.
How Haiwaan changes Oppam, and what it loses
Haiwaan keeps the dramatic engine of Oppam but changes its texture. The original is the tighter and rawer thriller; this Hindi version foregrounds the clash between Akshay and Saif and adds a glossier commercial scale.
Those changes are not automatically a problem. Akshay and Saif on opposing sides can give the remake a fresh charge. The issue is what gathers around them: extra songs, broader humour, more visible plot machinery and a runtime roughly fifteen minutes longer than the original. The remake enlarges the package while weakening the lean suspense that made the premise work.
The late nod to Oppam will please viewers who know Priyadarshan’s earlier film, but fan service cannot restore tension already spent. For a spoiler-light comparison of the adaptation choices, see our Haiwaan vs Oppam guide.
Who should watch Haiwaan?
The film is most likely to work for Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan fans who want the reunion, Priyadarshan completists, and viewers who enjoy broad Hindi thrillers that mix action, comedy and melodrama. If you have not seen Oppam, the central setup may still carry enough curiosity through the slower passages.
It is a poor fit if you want a compact mystery, a restrained serial-killer performance or an adaptation that improves on the original’s pacing. Murder, threat, police violence and a domestic-abuse subplot make this unsuitable for younger children despite the comic relief and songs.
Final verdict
Haiwaan is caught between the sensory thriller it could have been and the crowded star vehicle it chooses to become. Saif gives it a human anchor, Akshay offers moments of unsettling promise, and the closing stretch finally discovers urgency. The disjointed first half, blunt villainy, intrusive songs and unstable tone leave too little suspense intact.
Bingebaaz rating: 2/5. Wait for streaming, or choose Oppam if what you want is the tighter version of this chase. For current cinema and future OTT information, check our Haiwaan release and streaming guide.
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