Sep 11, 2026 10:05am IST
Haiwaan’ Review: Akshay Kumar And Saif Ali Khan Headline A Visually Sweeping, Sombre Slow-Burn Revenge Saga
Hindi audiences love nostalgia, as is evident from recent successes "Aawarapan 2", "Dhamaal 4" and "Welcome to the Jungle". So when Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar reunited for the big screen 18 years after their last film, there was bound to be excitement. Especially since this time, they were going to be seen in a thriller, as opposed to their last comedy outing and and the directorial reins in the hands of Priyardarshan.
In this revenge saga, Saif Ali Khan plays Shyam Rane, a visually impaired society manager forced to vanquish pure evil. Khan, putting on his absolute best front, is pitted against a menacing antagonist, Parshuram Gokhale, played by Akshay Kumar.
The film is an adaptation of Priyadarshan’s own 2016 Malayalam thriller, "Oppam". "Oppam" itself was one of the filmmaker’s less celebrated films. The film made much noise then purely on the basis of lead actor Mohan Lal's performance.
In the Hindi adaptation, the director starts the film establishing the sheer evil in the form of Parshuram’s dramatic entry. But then takes an agonizingly amount of time to establish why he’s out for blood. It turns out that Parshuram got short-changed by the legal system, and now is on a path of destruction.
The film plays out multiple tracks simultaneously even as the good versus evil battle forms the crux of it. There is Boman Irani playing Judge Pradhan, a man suffocating under his own guilt. The track of a random romance, a maid with a drunk gangster ex, and a robber brother seems a bit out of place in a revenge thriller.
Related Stories
The length of the film (164 minutes) makes it somewhat heavy and the two songs in the first half just delay the proceedings even more. That’s the main reason why the second half of the film feels laborious. A fair amount of trimming would have done a world of good to the narrative. A brief comedy scene featuring Sharib Hashmi as Senior Inspector Ashok Shinde and the late Asrani as security guard Hussein offers laughter in this grim tale.
It’s refreshing to Akshay Kumar play the baddie; only if his character had more shades and substance. The writer didn't pause to wonder how a ruthless murderer who wipes out entire families struggles to catch a blind guy hiding in the dark. Saif Ali Khan does the bare minimum as the visually impaired Shyam Rane. Saiyami Kher’s Inspector Varsha does little to raise the stakes. The film boasts of great production values and is a visual treat. Divakar Mani’s cinematography lifts the film considerably. The Mohan Lal cameo is wasted.
Comments are moderated. They may be edited for clarity and reprinting in whole or in part in Variety publications.