Media365
3 min readKochiSep 28, 2026 09:16 PM IST
Despite being a remake of Priyadarshan’s hit film Oppam (2016), starring Mohanlal in the lead role, the Hindi movie Haiwaan, helmed by the director himself, couldn’t match the success of its Malayalam original.
Although Haiwaan generated significant hype, especially since it arrived months after the filmmaker delivered the blockbuster Bhooth Bangla, the crime thriller bombed at the box office, failing to gross even Rs 20 crore worldwide, despite starring Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar in lead roles.
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Now, Priyadarshan has finally broken his silence on Haiwaan’s poor box office performance. While he initially said a film’s success or failure is unpredictable, the director later hinted at his disappointment with its reception, noting that Bollywood has boxed him into a certain mould and limited his ability to experiment.
Why Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar’s Haiwaan failed at box office
Priyadarshan also said that if this continues, he will solely “play for the gallery” in Hindi cinema going forward and do movies that challenge him as a director only in South Indian languages. “I have seen enough hits and flops in a career of 48 years and 98 films. I still survived; it’s part of the game,” he told Hindustan Times.
“I have made so many serious films such as Kaalapani (1996), Kanchivaram (2008) and Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (2021). I have also made political films in the South, and they were huge hits. I started with Gardish (1993) and Virasat (1997), which were also hits,” he recalled.
Priyadarshan added, “But after Hera Pheri (2000), people expect me to make humour-oriented films. If that’s the demand, why should I experiment with other kinds of films? I will play for the gallery and try meaningful movies in the South.”
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Revolving around a blind man who tries to protect a girl from a psycho killer, Oppam was a massive success and even entered the Rs 50 crore club in under 40 days, at a time when Malayalam cinema had yet to inaugurate the Rs 100 crore club, which happened in November of the same year when Mohanlal’s Pulimurugan achieved the milestone.
Haiwaan box office collection
Also starring Boman Irani, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Saiyami Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Sharib Hashmi, Rajesh Sharma, Pahal Chaudhary, and Manoj Joshi, Haiwaan was bankrolled by Venkat K Narayana and Shailaja Desai Fenn. It featured cinematography by Divakar Mani, music by Pritam, and editing by Aiyappan Nair MS.
Made on a reported budget of Rs 130 crore, the crime thriller grossed just Rs 15.08 crore worldwide, while its India nett collection stood at Rs 9.92 crore.
