Haiwaan review: Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar can’t match Oppam’s grit as glossy remake stumbles before late surge

Dubai: South Indian icon Mohanlal is big shoes to fill, and it’s unfair to expect another actor, even one of towering stature like Saif Ali Khan, to simply step into his shoes. But comparisons are inevitable when you have seen the original Lalettan-led thriller Oppam and then watch a much glossier, sanitised Haiwaan, with Saif Ali Khan as the blind caretaker at an apartment complex.

The problem is that Haiwaan often feels like it is trying very hard to be its own thing, while constantly reminding you of the film it is based on.

One of the most jarring bits of the movie is Saif Ali Khan, who we are told is a differently-abled martial arts trainer and also a musician. At one point, he is singing on a boat and then breaking into some impressively choreographed dancing at a wedding. It looks great, but it just doesn’t feel organic or natural for the character we have been introduced to.

And it isn’t just the musical interludes. Even Saif Ali Khan’s wardrobe seems to belong to a different movie. His perfectly tailored linen clothes and leather jackets look rather too immaculate and expensive for a working-class man who isn’t exactly swimming in money. It’s a small detail, but one that keeps nagging at you. When your supposedly modest man-Friday looks like he has just stepped out of a luxury resort campaign, even during a funeral, the character’s economic reality starts to feel rather fuzzy.

These details may seem trivial, but they add up. The film keeps telling us who this man is, rather than making us believe in him organically.

And that is the larger problem with Haiwaan: it takes a long time to warm up and find its groove. The thriller, directed by Priyadarshan, spends far too much time setting things up before finally deciding to become the thriller it promised to be.

It truly takes off only in the second half, when Akshay Kumar, sporting a one-tone menacing, almost bestial face and growl, goes after Saif. There is a sense of urgency that is missing in the first half, and suddenly the film starts moving.

Some of the scenes, though, are just downright outlandish. Take the crime that happens in the apartment Saif Ali Khan is guarding. He is one of two witnesses, and the police are called in, ostensibly to investigate, but the whole sequence soon turns into a prolonged joke about who ‘saw the killer first’. It might have worked as a brief comic beat. Instead, the joke is stretched well beyond its natural life.

Rajpal Yadav’s comic beats are perfectly fine and provide some relief, but they also underline another issue with Haiwaan. The film sometimes seems almost too conscious of being a commercial entertainer. It wants the thrills, the laughs, the action, the emotional backstory and the star power, all neatly packaged together. There is nothing wrong with wanting to entertain, of course, but here the tonal shifts can feel a little too calculated.

The jokes around police brutality and the scenes set at the police station also feel too contrived. There is a fine line between comic relief and scenes that make you wonder whether everyone involved has wandered into a different movie.

The coincidences, too, pile up. There are so many of them that after a point, you stop being surprised and simply wait for the next one to arrive.

It isn’t a snooze fest, to be fair. There are moments when Haiwaan shows glimpses of the Priyadarshan we know, particularly when the action kicks in. But there just isn’t enough holding the film together in its first half.

The supporting characters don’t fare much better. Shriya Pilgaonkar, as the domestic violence survivor and housemaid, and Saiyami Kher as an enterprising cop, feel severely underwritten, while even Akshay Kumar’s role doesn’t quite get the emotional heft it needs.

His tragic backstory is meant to explain the man he has become, but somehow the tragedy never really lands. We are told enough to understand his motivations, but not enough to actually feel them.

Akshay, too, could have done better. His physicality and menace are effective in the second half, but the performance sometimes feels stuck on one setting. The bestial expression and growl are turned up, but there isn’t enough variation underneath it.

Saif Ali Khan, meanwhile, has flashes of brilliance. There are moments where his stillness and physical performance are genuinely impressive, particularly in scenes where he has to convey what it means to navigate the world without sight. But some of the more manufactured character beats feel forced, and the film doesn’t always know how to use his strengths.

The action sequences are interesting and give the film some much-needed momentum. They are among the better elements here and, thankfully, the second half is exponentially better than the first, which takes far too long to set up.

And then there is the climax. Without giving too much away, Haiwaan saves a terrific bit of fan service for the end. For audiences who know Oppam, it is the sort of moment that will produce a genuine smile and perhaps even a little cheer. It is a lovely nod to the film’s roots and easily one of the most enjoyable moments in the movie.

Ultimately, Haiwaan isn’t a bad movie. It is simply a film that could have been much better with a tighter first half, better-written supporting characters and a little less insistence on telling us what kind of person its characters are.

Mohanlal’s Oppam had a certain rawness and emotional immediacy that made its central thriller work. Haiwaan feels more polished, more sanitised and, at times, more determined to please. It has the stars, the action, the comedy and the glossy finish, but somewhere in that process, it loses some of the grit.

There is enough here to keep you watching, especially once the second half kicks in. And if you have seen Oppam, the final surprise is a genuinely delightful bonus. But by then, you may still find yourself wondering why it took Haiwaan quite so long to get there.