“Like an Indian Blind Samurai”: Saif Ali Khan Shares His Experience of Playing an Extraordinary Fighter in ‘Haiwaan’

Bollywood powerhouse Saif Ali Khan is all set to share screen space with Akshay Kumar in the highly anticipated cinematic spectacle Haiwaan. Helmed by the legendary director Priyadarshan, the action-heavy entertainer is locked and loaded for a grand theatrical release on 11th September 2026, promising to showcase the actor in an avatar never seen before.

Saif Ali Khan is known to take on some of the most challenging roles of his career, Haiwaan being on of them. The actor will be seen playing a visually disabled character who will be seen in an action avatar. While the posters have teased his look from the film, Saif has described his role as ‘blind samurai,’ calling it one of the most amazing roles he’s done.

“It’s one of the most amazing roles I’ve been offered because it’s such a sympathetic character. In my head, I get to play an Indian version of a blind samurai. How cool is that? He’s blind, but he’s specially-abled. He can somehow sense things, fight, catch a ball, and protect a young girl. It was fascinating to find the physicality of that without making it look exaggerated,” Saif said in a recent interview.

Talking about working with Priyadarshan, Saif said, “It was something completely new for me. More importantly, it’s a character written for the audience to genuinely feel for, which I haven’t really had much of, for whatever reason. I’m really happy I got this role. Working with Priyadarshan sir was amazing. It reminded me of Clint Eastwood. Very economical and absolutely sure of what he wanted. We rarely did more than one take. I like doing a few takes, but you adapt to whoever you’re working with. It was interesting to be completely ready for that very first take, and somehow it really worked.”

Haiwaan is set to release on 11th September in theatres.

By Keerti Kadam