'Haiwaan' review: A copy-paste remake lacking the magic of the original

When I watched “Haiwaan” on the big screen today, the whole ordeal felt strangely comforting. Not because anything about the movie was comforting (in fact, it was quite the opposite), but because it was so familiar. Suspiciously familiar. Priyadarshan has described the film as an adaptation and remake of “Oppam”, but watching Haiwaan felt like he opened the “Oppam” script and Ctrl+C'd and Ctrl+V’d the whole thing into a new Hindi document.

And apparently, even the locations were not spared from the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V treatment. The story is set in Maharashtra, but some scenes were shot in Panampilly Nagar in Kochi, which made the whole thing feel even more amusingly familiar. Priyadarshan really said cut, copy, paste, and change the location only when necessary.

“Oppam”, released in 2016, was a massive box office hit in Kerala. A decade later, “Haiwaan” had the perfect opportunity to rework the story in a way that would befit a new audience and a new place. Instead, it remains almost exactly where “Oppam” stood as a film, quite outdated in a few places now that you look back at it ten years later. There are some genuinely beautiful frames in the film’s first half, but they do not nearly make up for the déjà vu one would feel while watching this.

Saif Ali Khan’s portrayal of the blind man, Shyam, does not carry even a fraction of the conviction Mohanlal’s Ram carried in “Oppam”. The performance felt very unconvincing, and sometimes you forget the fact that the character of Shyam is supposed to be blind, not only because of Saif’s portrayal of the character, but also because of Shyam’s actions throughout the movie. The kind of heroic acts he does make it feel almost ridiculous that someone, abled or differently abled, is able to pull them off.

The one thing the movie terribly failed at was filling the Mammukkoya-shaped hole. Asrani, who played the character of Hussain in “Haiwaan”, or the Mammukkoya equivalent in the movie, could not remotely match the impeccable comedic timing that the veteran actor in “Oppam” had. This made many memorable scenes, like the interrogation scene, fall flat instead of funny and border on corny, memorable nonetheless.  On the other hand, “Haiwaan” does feature a few funny moments that, very surprisingly, worked better for me than they did in “Oppam”. So the remake is not entirely without its own personality. It just seems to find that personality occasionally and then promptly lose it again.

This is particularly disappointing because Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar are usually a fun combination to watch. Their films together have a certain energy and comedic rhythm that can make even the most chaotic situations entertaining. Unfortunately, “Haiwaan” never really finds that rhythm. For a director-actor combination that has delivered so many genuinely enjoyable films, this one felt strangely joyless.

One of the biggest changes that was made in “Haiwaan” from “Oppam” is that the identity of the villain is revealed at the very beginning. In “Oppam”, the mystery surrounding the antagonist helped keep the tension alive. Here, the reveal at the beginning almost immediately removes the intrigue. More than that, Akshay Kumar as an antagonist was not the best decision for this film. The character felt so forced, and the performance failed to match my expectations.

Then came the Kalyan Jewellers ad.

Although it was aptly placed, it came so out of the blue with so much confidence that I had to laugh out loud. It almost reminded me of the product placement in “Drishyam 3”, just not as disastrously awkward.

Slow claps for the music team because I genuinely cannot clap any faster without being overwhelmed all over again. Music is used so frequently throughout that it felt more like personal instructions on what and how to feel. Feel sad here. Now feel tense. It would have been a lot more peaceful if they had just said that out loud instead of overusing booming, incessant music at multiple instances.

The monologues suffer from a similar problem. The language feels too formal and theatrical to sound like actual conversation, making several scenes feel oddly out of place in the world around them.

And for a film released in 2026, the continued conversations around dowry feel particularly outdated. A story adapted from a 2016 film should, ideally, have evolved somewhere along the way. Ten years is quite a long time to remain stuck in the same social conversation.

To its credit, the film offers a subtle nod to “Oppam” towards the end. It is a small detail that fans of the original are likely to notice and appreciate. Ironically, one of the nicest touches in “Haiwaan” is the one that remembers the film it spent most of its runtime trying to remake.

I also spent an embarrassing amount of time wondering where the Antony Perumbavoor cameo equivalent was, before remembering that this isn’t an Ashirvad Cinema production. Apparently, even my expectations were working on autopilot.

Speaking of production houses, KVN is really having a year. After “Jana Nayagan” and “Toxic”, “Haiwaan” does little to suggest that the streak is about to improve.

Film: Haiwaan

Director: Priyadarshan

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Govardhan Asrani, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Saiyami Kher

Rating: 1.5/5