Haiwaan Finds Its Pulse Beneath the Padding

Haiwaan arrives with the kind of casting hook Bollywood executives put on billboards and audiences put on calendars: Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan reunited after nearly two decades, under Priyadarshan’s direction. The promise is a grim, old-school cat-and-mouse thriller, with both stars nudged beyond their most familiar screen settings. That promise is, thankfully, not empty.

Priyadarshan brings a welcome seriousness to the material. The film understands that suspense needs atmosphere, not merely loud music and men staring intensely into middle distance. Its best stretches have the controlled tension and visual patience of a filmmaker who knows exactly how to make a chase feel like a chase rather than a trailer extended to feature length.

Kumar and Khan supply the central electricity. Their contrasting screen energies give the film a sturdy dramatic engine, while their willingness to play against expectation adds real value. Boman Irani, Saiyami Kher and Shriya Pilgaonkar strengthen the ensemble, and Sharib Hashmi reportedly emerges as one of the film’s more dependable pleasures.

The trouble is familiar: the thriller is uneven, overlong and occasionally interrupted by songs that arrive less like storytelling than contractual obligations. The marketing’s 23-million-view trailer buzz promised momentum; the modest opening suggests the reunion alone could not do all the heavy lifting.

Still, this is a proper commercial thriller with ambition, craft and two stars worth watching in unfamiliar gear. Bollywood continues to believe every suspense film needs a dance number and a three-hour notice period.