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What is the story about?
As Akshay Kumar turns 59 today, he is at a crossroads. In a prolific acting career spanning 35 years, the age-defying superstar has hopped more genres than most.
Action, comedy, social-message cinema, patriotic dramas, courtroom stories, biopics, franchise films — he’s done it all. What more, what new can he bring to his audiences for whom his versatility, economy of scale and litheness have become repetitive? His new film, Haiwaan, releases this Friday (Sept 11) and may be the answer.
Kumar plays the titular villain in the crime-thriller directed by Priyadarshan. Not the antagonist-protagonist kind, like Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, Shah Rukh Khan in Raees or Varun Dhawan in Badlapur. But the monstrous kind, who operate beyond motive, reason and redemption. The Ashutosh Rana in Sangharsh kind.
However, it’s hardly the first time a mainstream Hindi hero who has spent his entire career playing the moral centre of his films has strayed, flipping 180 degrees. Aamir Khan in Fanaa, Ranveer Singh in Padmaavat, John Abraham in Dhoom and Pathaan, Arjun Rampal in Om Shanti Om and, most recently, in Dhurandhar: The Revenge have all played villains that audiences loved to hate.
In fact, it’s not the first instance for Akshay Kumar either. In Ajnabee, the 2001 Abbas-Mustan relationship-thriller, he played an opportunistic up-start who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted with such gleeful abandon that it caused a major stir. Then came 2.0, in which Kumar played a disgruntled scientist against Rajinikanth. Two years ago, Stree 2 teased his evil presence, which will turn into full-blown mayhem in the forthcoming third part, expected to release in 2027.
Unhinged, grotesque villainy reviving the flailing careers of heartthrobs of the 90s seems to be a recurrent theme since the pandemic. First, it pulled Bobby Deol out of the trenches. Cut to now, post Aashram, Animal, Love Hostel and Alpha, he seems to be revenge-working, making up for all the lost time.
Next followed the spectacular resurgence of Akshaye Khanna, who played the baddie with great relish in two of the biggest blockbusters of 2025— Chhaava, and Dhurandhar. But Akshay Kumar’s venturing into the abyss resembles rather closely the wayward meanderings of Saif Ali Khan, who simply refuses to stick to the script.
One of the most adventurous actors of Kumar’s cadre, Saif (who stars alongside him in Haiwaan) has dabbled with the dark every once in a while. The result is a slate of films in which no two characters are similar and yet each tests limits, pushes buttons and entertains in a way unexpected. Whether it be Ek Haseena Thi, Omkara , Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior or Adipurush, Saif has sunk his teeth into each role with abundant delight.
I cannot write about the good boys of Hindi cinema going rogue and not mention the enduring legacy of Shah Rukh Khan. It would be nothing short of blasphemous. His early career continues to be a telling template. A rank outsider when he started off, he was considered too ugly to play the hero, he once said during a recorded interaction in Switzerland. So he decided to be the bad guy. The outcome was a blaze of blistering films (Baazigar, Darr, Anjaam) centred on violence and vendetta, in which SRK performed with such ferociousness that it forever altered his trajectory.
He became a villain before it was considered cool. He made it cool. In an interview while promoting Don 2, he said, "I like playing the bad guy. When I started my career, I really wanted to be a villain. Not the typical villain, but someone more psychological, intelligent. I have a lot of thoughts about the dark side of humanity and people, the evil side, the devil in all of us.
"I believe that none of us is untouched by badness. We all have it to different degrees. Sometimes we succumb to it. It depends on what you choose, it's not the circumstances only. So I think, because I believe in it so strongly, I play it well. I enjoy playing bad guys more than good guys."
There is a tremendous, perspective-altering freedom that comes with letting go, with not being encumbered by the trappings of morality and propriety. It allows actors to visit places and probe nuances that one-dimensional protagonists burdened with a conscience rarely offer them a chance to. Moreover, negative roles help disrupt an actor’s accumulated image, giving the audience the precious—and often rare—opportunity to see them in a new light, thus resuscitating the element of surprise even if they have been seeing the same actor for over 30 years.
It’ll be fascinating to see if Haiwaan is able to catapult Akshay Kumar out of the rut of middling, forgettable films that he seems to be stuck in for a while now. Not too long ago, Priyadarshan carved one of India’s greatest comedic stars out of him. The coming weekend will tell if he has also been able to find diabolical evil lurking somewhere in there.
Also Read: 'Mirzapur: The Movie' review | Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Divyenndu deliver a weekend worth the spend
Action, comedy, social-message cinema, patriotic dramas, courtroom stories, biopics, franchise films — he’s done it all. What more, what new can he bring to his audiences for whom his versatility, economy of scale and litheness have become repetitive? His new film, Haiwaan, releases this Friday (Sept 11) and may be the answer.
Kumar plays the titular villain in the crime-thriller directed by Priyadarshan. Not the antagonist-protagonist kind, like Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, Shah Rukh Khan in Raees or Varun Dhawan in Badlapur. But the monstrous kind, who operate beyond motive, reason and redemption. The Ashutosh Rana in Sangharsh kind.
However, it’s hardly the first time a mainstream Hindi hero who has spent his entire career playing the moral centre of his films has strayed, flipping 180 degrees. Aamir Khan in Fanaa, Ranveer Singh in Padmaavat, John Abraham in Dhoom and Pathaan, Arjun Rampal in Om Shanti Om and, most recently, in Dhurandhar: The Revenge have all played villains that audiences loved to hate.
In fact, it’s not the first instance for Akshay Kumar either. In Ajnabee, the 2001 Abbas-Mustan relationship-thriller, he played an opportunistic up-start who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted with such gleeful abandon that it caused a major stir. Then came 2.0, in which Kumar played a disgruntled scientist against Rajinikanth. Two years ago, Stree 2 teased his evil presence, which will turn into full-blown mayhem in the forthcoming third part, expected to release in 2027.
Unhinged, grotesque villainy reviving the flailing careers of heartthrobs of the 90s seems to be a recurrent theme since the pandemic. First, it pulled Bobby Deol out of the trenches. Cut to now, post Aashram, Animal, Love Hostel and Alpha, he seems to be revenge-working, making up for all the lost time.
Next followed the spectacular resurgence of Akshaye Khanna, who played the baddie with great relish in two of the biggest blockbusters of 2025— Chhaava, and Dhurandhar. But Akshay Kumar’s venturing into the abyss resembles rather closely the wayward meanderings of Saif Ali Khan, who simply refuses to stick to the script.
One of the most adventurous actors of Kumar’s cadre, Saif (who stars alongside him in Haiwaan) has dabbled with the dark every once in a while. The result is a slate of films in which no two characters are similar and yet each tests limits, pushes buttons and entertains in a way unexpected. Whether it be Ek Haseena Thi, Omkara , Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior or Adipurush, Saif has sunk his teeth into each role with abundant delight.
I cannot write about the good boys of Hindi cinema going rogue and not mention the enduring legacy of Shah Rukh Khan. It would be nothing short of blasphemous. His early career continues to be a telling template. A rank outsider when he started off, he was considered too ugly to play the hero, he once said during a recorded interaction in Switzerland. So he decided to be the bad guy. The outcome was a blaze of blistering films (Baazigar, Darr, Anjaam) centred on violence and vendetta, in which SRK performed with such ferociousness that it forever altered his trajectory.
He became a villain before it was considered cool. He made it cool. In an interview while promoting Don 2, he said, "I like playing the bad guy. When I started my career, I really wanted to be a villain. Not the typical villain, but someone more psychological, intelligent. I have a lot of thoughts about the dark side of humanity and people, the evil side, the devil in all of us.
"I believe that none of us is untouched by badness. We all have it to different degrees. Sometimes we succumb to it. It depends on what you choose, it's not the circumstances only. So I think, because I believe in it so strongly, I play it well. I enjoy playing bad guys more than good guys."
There is a tremendous, perspective-altering freedom that comes with letting go, with not being encumbered by the trappings of morality and propriety. It allows actors to visit places and probe nuances that one-dimensional protagonists burdened with a conscience rarely offer them a chance to. Moreover, negative roles help disrupt an actor’s accumulated image, giving the audience the precious—and often rare—opportunity to see them in a new light, thus resuscitating the element of surprise even if they have been seeing the same actor for over 30 years.
It’ll be fascinating to see if Haiwaan is able to catapult Akshay Kumar out of the rut of middling, forgettable films that he seems to be stuck in for a while now. Not too long ago, Priyadarshan carved one of India’s greatest comedic stars out of him. The coming weekend will tell if he has also been able to find diabolical evil lurking somewhere in there.
Also Read: 'Mirzapur: The Movie' review | Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Divyenndu deliver a weekend worth the spend
