Priyadarshan remakes his own Malayalam hit Oppam and loses everything that made the original work. The premise still has potential, but the writing, characterisation, casting and tone fail to create the tension or emotional investment needed for this kind of thriller.
Priyadarshan has remade his own Malayalam film Oppam, which released in 2016, as the Hindi film Haiwaan. The original, starring Mohanlal, had a simple but effective premise: a visually impaired building manager gets involved in protecting the young daughter of a resident who is murdered as part of a revenge plot. Somehow, that story worked beautifully in 2016. In Haiwaan, the same premise struggles to hold together.
The biggest problem is that the world created by Priyadarshan simply doesn't feel believable.
For starters, you keep wondering why a visually impaired man is working as a building manager when the job requires him to be involved in almost everything happening in the society. He manages security guards, knows what is happening around the building and seems to be everywhere. Yes, his character has a heightened sense of hearing, which allows him to identify footsteps, cars, objects falling and even the number of steps someone takes. But the film pushes these abilities so far that they stop feeling convincing and start becoming convenient plot devices.
And then there are the relationships. Professional boundaries clearly exist in the real world, but apparently not in this film. The building manager is someone residents trust with their deepest, darkest secrets. The house help, played by Shriya Pilgaonkar, is partying, taking selfies and behaving like she is everyone's best friend. The line between staff, neighbour, professional worker and bestie simply doesn't exist in this world.
There is one particularly hilarious sequence involving a young girl and a boy who are clearly together. When their parents discover them in a flat, they get angry. Instead of sorting the matter out themselves, a society meeting is called, with residents sitting together to discuss the issue. And then the authority to judge the situation and arrive at a decision is handed over to this powerful, respected man in the society. The scene is clearly not designed as comedy, but it is so odd that you can't help but laugh.
Then there is the villain played by Akshay Kumar. His character is supposed to be someone who shouldn't be easily noticed, yet he seems to be everywhere. He walks into the building, walks out and moves around almost as if nobody is watching him. For a character who is meant to be hiding and operating in secret, the film makes him remarkably visible.
There are also details that are particularly difficult to digest in a contemporary setting. In 2026, it is hard to accept people relying on paid phones at shops to make secret calls instead of using mobile phones. The whole idea of those old-school phones where you put a one-rupee coin in and make a call feels completely disconnected from the world the film is supposed to be set in.
The police characters don't help either. Shriya Pilgaonkar's cop character goes nowhere. It doesn't even have an arc; it looks like the writer and director forgot about her. There is very little development, and it ultimately feels like an incomplete part of the story. Sharib Hashmi, an actor who is capable of doing so much better, plays one of the most annoying cops I have seen in a while. His character is constantly saying things that test your patience, and the amount of nonsense he is asked to deliver makes those scenes even more frustrating.
And this is not even supposed to be a comedy. If some of these scenes were intentionally written as humour, they simply don't work. The tone keeps becoming unintentionally funny when the film should be building tension.
Some songs are good but I can just watch them on YouTube; in the film they only increase the duration.
The performances are another issue. Saif Ali Khan has played a wide range of characters and has certainly proved that he can disappear into very different roles. But I just don't buy him as this particular building manager. The casting doesn't feel right to me, and that becomes a major problem because the entire film depends on us believing in this character and his abilities. Akshay Kumar works, but it's not a lengthy role that his fans would want.
One can hardly blame the actors when the character sketch is all over the place and incomplete for many.
I could go on about the many logical inconsistencies, but the larger problem is much simpler: nothing really works here. What worked in Oppam in 2016 doesn't translate effectively into Haiwaan in 2026. The premise still has potential, but the writing, characterisation, casting and tone fail to create the tension or emotional investment needed for this kind of thriller.
Haiwaan gets 1.5 stars out of 5.