Haiwaan (2026): Priyadarshan Builds Atmosphere, But the Ferry Sinks
A blind caretaker reads a crowded ferry by sound alone, footsteps, breathing, the shift of weight across a wet deck, the smell of diesel. Priyadarshan shoots that sequence with real patience, and for a few minutes Haiwaan looks like a film that knows exactly what it wants to be, which makes the rest harder to forgive.
Saif Ali Khan Hears a Room Before He Steps Into It
Saif Ali Khan plays blind caretaker Shyam Rane by listening rather than looking, head tilted toward voices he cannot see. In the apartment-complex scene he maps rooms by echo and smell, and the casting briefly earns its keep. Elsewhere there is little to push against, and I waited for the film to trust that precision again.
Priyadarshan Builds a World, Then Drowns It in Subplots
Hindustan Times called Priyadarshan good at building worlds and creating a sense of atmosphere, and the early apartment passages earn that. Indian Express scored the film 2/5 and found it more miss than hit. The script, credited with Rohan Shankar and Abilash Nair, buries its murder under police subplots and dated comedy at 164 minutes.
Shyam’s Ears Do the Work His Eyes Cannot
Disability is the engine here, and it works: Shyam reads footsteps, breath and the smell of a room to survive. That device generates real suspense whenever the film lets him move through space he cannot see. The ferry establishes the contract, and the apartment complex fulfils it.
Framing an innocent man is old Oppam machinery, and it still functions well enough. The cross-cutting between a wedding and a murder, however, plays as disastrous rather than tense. Cat-and-mouse beats rarely land, because the two leads share almost no screen time that matters.
Revenge drives Parshuram’s killings, though the motive never carries weight on screen. The climax confrontation arrives with the shape of a payoff and little of its pressure. By then the thriller has become a procedural, with Ronnie Raphael’s score doing work the writing should do.
Atmosphere is the one thing Haiwaan gets right, and it is the thread running through our Hindi crime thriller reviews.
Boman Irani Anchors the First Hour; the Rest Drift
Boman Irani’s Judge Pradhan gives the opening act a spine, and the secret he shares with Shyam is the film’s best hook. He plays authority with calm precision, which makes his second-half absence feel like a hole. Shriya Pilgaonkar and Saiyami Kher get function without character, stranded in subplots that dilute everything.
Saif Ali Khan’s Ferry Can’t Rescue a ₹3 Crore Opening
CBFC cleared Haiwaan with U/A 16+ after a visual trim and one line replacement; no political storm followed. Sacnilk and India Today logged ₹3 crore India net on day one against a reported ₹100–115 crore budget. Day two added ₹0.4 crore net, Times of India said, while IMDb sits at 4.6 from 10, 212 votes.
Haiwaan is worth watching mainly to see Saif Ali Khan work without his eyes, and even that reward thins after the interval. Everyone else should wait for streaming, where the procedural drag of the second half is far easier to skip. Go for the ferry, the apartment, and Boman Irani; skip the rest.
Haiwaan shares a specific failure with Maremma’s script problem: a strong premise collapsed by muddled execution.
Haiwaan is a 2.5-out-of-5 crime thriller worth catching on streaming, with the first hour as its only real defence.
Last Man in Tower turns the same apartment complex into a pressure cooker, which is the film Haiwaan’s building deserved.
Readers looking for more hindi thriller reviews can explore them on Filmyfly.
Ankit Jaiswal is the Chief Author, covering Indian cinema and OTT releases with honest, no-filler criticism. An SEO strategist by background, he brings a research-driven approach to film writing, cutting through hype to tell you exactly what's worth your time.