Saif Ali Khan says one particular fight scene in Haiwaan wrecked him so badly he needed two days flat on his back to recover. Not metaphorically. Actually flat.

In an exclusive with Pinkvilla ahead of the film's September 11 release, Saif opened up about playing a visually impaired character who happens to know martial arts, and the sequence built around him getting bashed around before he finally hits back.

"It's a scene with a great build-up because the characters torture and bash up my character, kicking and slapping him," Saif said. "As an audience, you want him to retaliate, which he eventually does."

No CGI, No Duplicates, No Faking It

What makes the sequence work, according to Saif, is that none of it is faked. He credited stunt master Silva for the choreography and was blunt about how little safety net there was.

"Silva really well choreographed that fight, and there were no special effects added to it, there were no duplicates," he said. "There's very little fakery in these scenes. The room has broken glass everywhere. It was very raw and kind of violent, and it was utterly exhausting because after that I had to lie down for two days."

He went further, insisting it wasn't the usual harness-and-green-screen job actors lean on for big action beats. "It wasn't CGI or harness-backed action scenes, the fight scene is just raw," Saif said. "It was really lots of fun to perform."

The physical toll caught even him off guard. "I thought I was alright but I was exhausted because that is how intense the action scene was," he added, recalling the aftermath of the shoot. "I remember, after the scene was shot, there was a lot of glass pieces on the floor from the broken photo frames and cupboards being smashed." Cuts and bruises came with the territory, though Saif says the team got off lighter than the mess would suggest.

There was no boot camp for this one either. No workshops, no weeks of prep. Saif said he simply rehearsed the sequence directly with the stunt director before shooting, which makes the raw, unpolished quality of the fight less of a stylistic choice and more of a straight consequence of how it was made.

First Priyadarshan Film, First Akshay Reunion In 18 Years

Haiwaan is Saif's debut with director Priyadarshan and brings him back opposite Akshay Kumar for the first time in nearly two decades. Boman Irani, Sayami Kher and Shriya Pilgaonkar round out the cast in key roles.

With the film four days from release, the action-heavy promotion is clearly meant to sell Haiwaan on its physicality rather than its star pairing alone. Whether audiences buy the rawness Saif is describing, or simply clock it as another action-comedy vehicle for two big names sharing a screen again, gets answered starting September 11.