Akshay pitched himself for Haiwaan after others rejected the role: Priyadarshan

Director Priyadarshan has revealed that several actors turned down the central role in Haiwaan before Akshay Kumar himself expressed interest in playing the character. In an exclusive conversation with India Today, the filmmaker said Akshay had always wanted to take on a “psycho” role.Speaking about how Akshay eventually came on board, Priyadarshan said, “I never thought about him for the role. I never imagined Akshay in this character. I was casually telling him that there was this character and nobody wanted to do it. We were shooting Bhoot Bangla at the time, and in between shots, I just told him, ‘Okay, there is this film I want to do, but Akshay, nobody wants to do it.’”Priyadarshan had approached several actors for the role, but none of them came on board. “Many actors I approached said no to me. They even started writing their own script around the character, telling me how it should be done. So I just thought, ‘Okay, forget it,’” he recalled.Akshay, however, returned after completing a shot and surprised the filmmaker by offering to take up the role himself. “Then Akshay went for his shot, came back and said, ‘Can I do this role?’ I said, ‘Are you joking?’ He said, ‘No, I have always wanted to play a psycho.’ So, in a way, he pitched himself for the role,” Priyadarshan said. When asked which actors had previously rejected the film, Priyadarshan chose not to name them. “I don’t think it would be fair or gracious to name them,” he said.Priyadarshan on his collaborations with Akshay KumarHaving collaborated with Akshay on several films over the years, Priyadarshan said their long association has created a strong sense of trust between them. “I have worked a lot with Akshay. He never asks too many questions. He comes when the shot is ready and simply asks, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ That’s it. Then I tell him what he is supposed to do. Because of our long journey together, he has complete trust in me,” he said.For Haiwaan, Priyadarshan wanted Akshay to steer clear of an overtly sinister portrayal of the character.“He asked me, ‘How do you want me to do it?’ I said, ‘Behave as calmly as possible.’ Because these psycho characters can be very, very shrewd. You should never feel that there is a criminal underneath. They can be much more polished and nice,” the filmmaker said.Priyadarshan explained that he drew a distinction between appearing sinister and appearing deceptively ordinary. “When you talk about people like Jack the Ripper or the Boston Strangler, they were supposed to be among the most polished people, and then they would change their face at night. So that was the kind of approach I explained to him. He immediately understood it and did it correctly.”The filmmaker also recalled a famous remark by Amitabh Bachchan about the nature of an actor’s choices. “There is a famous line Amitji has said: ‘Actors are beggars. They cannot choose.’ He has said that because Salim-Javed wrote some great roles, and that is what made him what he is. It is a very, very nice thing for him to say.”Priyadarshan added that a strong screenplay remains an actor’s biggest asset. “If you are getting a good script, that is your biggest strength. However good an actor you are, if your screenplay is not already strong, you can act your backside off, but that’s it.” Haiwaan marks another collaboration between Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar, following their work on Bhoot Bangla. The film, also starring Saif Ali Khan, is set to release on September 11.- EndsPublished On: Aug 31, 2026 13:48 IST