vijay deverakonda liger movie review

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A story about martial arts, dreams and star crossed lovers. Liger is an MMA fighter who trains hard and rises up the ranks with one goal in mind, to fight like his idol, world renowned MMA f... Read all A story about martial arts, dreams and star crossed lovers. Liger is an MMA fighter who trains hard and rises up the ranks with one goal in mind, to fight like his idol, world renowned MMA fighter Mark Anderson and get noticed by him. A story about martial arts, dreams and star crossed lovers. Liger is an MMA fighter who trains hard and rises up the ranks with one goal in mind, to fight like his idol, world renowned MMA fighter Mark Anderson and get noticed by him.

• Puri Jagannadh
• Prashant Pandey
• A.R. Sreedhar
• Ananya Panday
• Vijay Deverakonda
• 429 User reviews
• 18 Critic reviews
• 2 nominations

Top cast 34

• Mark Anderson

• Sashwath 'Liger' Agarwal

• Master Christopher

• Balam (Liger's mother)

• Father of Tanya and Sanju

• (as Getup Seenu)

• Tanya's Friends

• Tanya's Friend

• Female gang member

• Cop in train

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• Rancher Body Guard
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• Trivia Despite being marketed as a bilingual made in both in Telugu and Hindi languages, only Vijay Devarakonda has provided accurate lip syncs in both languages. Most of the Telugu actors have provided lip sync in Telugu while the rest of the Hindi actors speak in Hindi while being dubbed over for the Telugu version.
• Alternate versions The UK release was cut, the distributor chose to make changes to the film in order to obtain a 12A classification. This involved reducing the number of uses of strong language. An uncut 15 classification was available.

User reviews 429

• Soul_Snatcher
• Aug 24, 2022
• How long is Liger? Powered by Alexa
• August 25, 2022 (India)
• Bollywood Hollywood Production
• Dharma Productions
• Puri Connects
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 20 minutes

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Liger Movie Review: Vijay Deverakonda's Liger can't roar, it purrs

Director puri jagannadh's liger, starring vijay deverakonda and ananya panday, is a convoluted sports drama with a lacklustre story. in other words, liger is a wasted opportunity, says our review..

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• Liger hit the theatres on August 25.
• Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday play the lead roles in the film.
• The sports drama is directed by Puri Jagannadh.

For the past month, we have seen Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday in every corner of the country in flashy clothes promoting Liger. Vijay Deverakonda, director Puri Jagannadh and co-producer Charmme Kaur were, therefore, confident of Liger's success. In a promotional interview, the Arjun Reddy actor claimed that Liger is already a 'blockbuster'. Has the film lived up to the expectations that the team created with aggressive promotions? The answer is a big no.

Balamani (Ramya Krishnan) and her son Liger (Vijay Deverakonda), who reside in Karimnagar, move to Mumbai to make it big in the world of MMA. Liger, (yes, that's his name, we kid you not) has a stutter and is, therefore, ridiculed at every opportunity. His fighting skills shut people up. Soon, they find a coach for him in Ronit Roy. Liger's ultimate aim in life is to become a famous MMA fighter.

Balamani, however, warns him not to get distracted by falling in love. Meanwhile, Tanya (Ananya Panday), a social media celebrity, is impressed after seeing Liger fight. And eventually, they fall in love. So, exactly what his mother warned him not to do. Hmm...

Director Puri Jagannadh, who has given several memorable films in the past, looks totally out of form. Liger took three years to make, but the story doesn't show that. It is a story that is so stale that even a child could predict the proceedings. You get no justifiable backstory as to why Balamani and Liger chose MMA as a life goal.

That said, Liger starts on a promising note. The street fight portions grab our attention. Sadly, that is it. The screenplay goes downhill from here because of the lousy love track between Ananya and Vijay. The scenes are so lazily written that every time Tanya pops up on the screen, you let out a breath in exasperation.

If that's testing your patience, wait for it. Liger's story reaches its climax 10 minutes into the second half. But, Puri Jagannadh refuses to believe it and stretches it further with literally zero stakes. The story takes us to the US and then introduces boxing legend Mike Tyson as Mark Henderson. While this cameo is intended to bring the much-needed high, it turns out to be unintentionally funny.

Puri Jagannadh's screenplay failed to evoke any sense of emotion, let alone a positive one. Except for one or two scenes, every sequence is redundant and seems like they are lifted off from other commercial films. From the trailer, Liger seemed to be a template rags-to-riches story. But, as you sit in the theatre watching the film, you realise it is neither a moving love story nor a thrilling sports drama, rags, and riches, but never together.

Vijay Deverakonda's physical transformation is commendable. But, his stammer act goes OTT sometimes. He is still in the Arjun Reddy mode and it is high time he snaps out of it as it's getting repetitive. Ramya Krishnan is loud, but she is easily one of the characters who made the film interesting. Ananya Panday as the damsel in forever distress is forgettable. Mike Tyson is a legend and it is baffling to see how he accepted such a role which has zero conviction or adds any value to the story.

Liger also joins the long list of films that blame women for men getting distracted. The film makes us question if the team spent ample time writing the script. If only Puri Jagannadh, Charmme Kaur and Karan Johar had set aside half of the time and money for the script instead of the promotions, Liger could have been a much better film. If only.

2 out of 5 stars for Liger. Published By: Nairita Mukherjee Published On: Aug 25, 2022 --- ENDS ---

• తెలుగు

Liger Review: Knock Out Punch For Audience

Movie: Liger Rating: 2/5 Banner: Puri Connects & Dharma Productions Cast: Vijay Deverakoda, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishna, Mike Tyson, Ronit Roy, Vishu Reddy, Ali, Makarand Desh Pandey, Getup Sreenu, and others Stunts: Kecha DOP: Vishnu Sarma Editor: Junaid Siddiqui Art: Jonny Shaik Basha Producers: Puri Jagannadh, Charmee, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, and Hiroo Yash Johar  Story, Screenplay, Dialogues and Directed by: Puri Jagannadh  Release Date: Aug 25, 2022

“Liger” has created tremendous hype. The combination of director Puri Jagannadh and young sensation Vijay Deverakonda has occupied the media and social media space lately. Boxing legend Mike Tyson’s presence is another reason.

Besides big-ticket movies like “RRR”, “Radhe Shyam” and “KGF”, this pan-Indian film has also created buzz nationwide. Let’s find out whether the film lives up to the hype.

Story: Liger (Vijay Deverakonda) and his mother Balamani (Ramya Krishna) move to Mumbai from Karimnagar.

Balamani aims to see his son become a champion in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as her husband died without realizing his dream of winning a title in a boxing championship.

The mother and son run a chai shop in Mumbai for a living and Liger gets trained under an MMA guru (Ronit Roy). 

A rich girl Tanya (Ananya Panday) loves him and this romance changes his life altogether.

Will he become a champion or will he land in trouble due to his love story?

Artistes’ Performances: If you take away Vijay Deverakonda from the scene, nothing holds. Such a magnetic power he has in this film. He underwent a stunning makeover and developed a terrific body to play the role of ‘Liger’. While the stuttering act is not always perfect, his sincerity and hard work are praiseworthy. However, the script doesn’t give him anything to go beyond the surface. 

Ramya Krishna’s role as a spirited mother lacks enough material. Despite that, the senior actress gives what is required. Ananya Panday plays a typical heroine’s role.

Boxing legend Mike Tyson makes an appearance in the climax part. But the role Puri has written for him is half-baked.

Getup Seenu, Ali, and Ronit Roy do an okay job. Vishu Reddy does justice to his role.

Technical Excellence: The film is made on a lavish scale. The Las Vegas sequences and the production values have brought the film a rich look. Vishnu Sharma’s cinematography is top-class.

“Coka 2.0” and “Aafat” are beautiful on screen but both come in the wrong places in the film. Puri’s trademark dialogues are effective here and there.

Highlights: Vijay Deverakonda’s performance and presence The beginning sequences with VD and Ronit Roy

Drawback: Lack of story No emotional high No strong conflict or villain Final moments Mike Tyson’s presence wasted

Analysis The career of Puri Jagannadh, the director of many sensational blockbusters, lacks consistency. “Liger” seemed to be the opportunity to return to his glory days of “Pokiri”. With the scale of the movie (a pan-Indian project with Karan Johar joining hands) and a rising star in the lead role, the hype it generated gave the perfect vehicle for him to show his stamp. But, it turns out to be a wasted effort as “Liger” looks like an exercise with no proper script.

The film has a Mumbai setting. Had Puri written a story as bulky as Vadapav, it would have been different. But the storyline is as thin as a paper dosa. More than the story, the film doesn’t have a strong conflict or high emotional quotient, or a strong villain, the essential elements for mass movies. Puri Jagannadh’s script writing is not at all good here.

The idea of a protagonist with a stammering problem is irritating. The USP of this actor is his dialogue delivery. Director made a colossal mistake by thwarting his strength with this disability to the character. Moreover, this deficiency in the hero hardly makes any difference to the main story.

Puri Jagannadh begins this film as an inspirational story of a rise of a champion from a humble background. But midway, he cuts to the routine love story. The main goal gets lost in the melee. At a point it appears as if written by an amateur writer but not Puri Jagannath. So shocking! 

The so-called MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fights and sequences, which come one after the other, make a tiresome watch. Despite naming it MMA, the fights are similar to many boxing dramas. No difference! The film and the fights don’t provide a high.

The film further goes downhill when the story shifts to Las Vegas.  Things turn awkward as poor scenes are written to introduce the character of boxing legend Mike Tyson. A lengthy fight scene with lady fighters is another misstep. Thus, the final act completely goes wrong and becomes pointless. A legend like Tyson should have given better scenes.

Despite Vijay Deverakonda’s hard work, Puri wastes the golden opportunity to get pan-Indian fame.

Overall, “Liger” neither delivers a knockout punch nor does it offer thundering moments. It only proves that Puri Jagannadh is yet to come to his old form despite delivering 'iSmart Shakar' recently.

Bottom line: Bo..Bo..Bo..Boring

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‘Liger’ movie review: Vijay Deverakonda’s action drama is all noise and little else

This puri jagannadh and vijay deverakonda film is a mishmash of sport, action and drama in which nothing makes an impact.

Updated - August 27, 2022 07:58 am IST

Published - August 25, 2022 03:11 pm IST

Vijay Deverakonda in and as ‘Liger’

In the opening minutes of Liger , a voiceover describes the title character as a slumdog from the streets of Mumbai who is aiming to win on an international podium. Though overused, this underdog template can still make the cut if a writer-director has a story that stays true to its milieu and engages the audience. Liger , helmed by Puri Jagannadh and headlined by Vijay Deverakonda, however, comes across as a lazily written film that moves from one song/stunt sequence to another.

Liger (Vijay Deverakonda), whom his mother Balamani (Ramya Krishnan) describes as a crossbreed between a lion and tiger, is good at mixed martial arts (MMA). Hailing from Karimnagar and raising him on her own, she has moved to Mumbai to see him as an MMA national champion; the mother and son make ends meet by managing a tea stall. They seek the help of a coach (Ronit Roy), though they cannot afford the fee. Balamani is a feisty character who does not bow down; she reveals an emotional story that cuts the ice with the coach. 

Puri gives Liger a handicap — a stutter. He can land several punches in the time he strings together a sentence. Predictable scenes follow in which Liger is ridiculed by the students of MMA and he has to fight to earn their respect. 

Cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan

Director: puri jagannadh, language: telugu and hindi, dubbed in tamil, kannada and malayalam.

Once Liger’s potential in MMA is established, the story introduces the leading lady who is characterised as a dimwit who is both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious, and annoying. Tanya (Ananya Panday) is portrayed as a wealthy brat who desperately seeks social media attention. One of her friends suggests posting ‘hot’ videos to attract attention; but a few scenes later we see her lip-sync M S Subbulakshmi’s rendition of Suprabatham. She is game for anything that can get her traction. The entire scene in which Liger’s mother describes the kind of girl whom he shouldn’t fall for and she reflecting all those traits is one of the many cringe-inducing scenes that are passed off as humour.

In another scene, Balamani loudly vents on the phone and asks Tanya to leave her son alone and not mislead him, asserting that she wants to see him as a champion. Tanya’s immediate reaction after the phone call is to ask, “Where is my vodka?” And it cuts to the foot tapping ‘Akdi pakdi’ dance number. Soon after, she is woken up by friends who tell her that her Instagram post has become a rage and fans have gathered downstairs. She goes to the balcony and waves to the crowd in a manner similar to SRK from Mannat. So was that song a dream, did it really happen and were those videos posted and went viral? The transition in the narrative is so random. Some sort of a reveal about Tanya’s true reaction to the mother’s angst comes much later but by then, nothing matters as the film goes on a downward spiral.

The one who tries to hold the shaky narrative together is Vijay Deverakonda . His physical transformation makes him come across as agile and fit enough to pull off the stunt sequences. A pre-climax fight sequence involving women trained in Krav Maga sticks out like a sore thumb. Was that Puri’s way of showing the power of women after a string of glam doll characterisations of the leading women in his last few films? Who knows!

The much-hyped combat between Liger and Mike Tyson has its moments, but coming at the fag end of a shoddily-written story, it is too little and too late. Cast in a fictional character, Tyson is shown as Liger’s idol but the climax reveal of the other side of the champion is a mockery.

A big letdown, apart from the story and screenplay, is the language of Liger . Understandably, some of the characters are men and women of Telugu origin who live in Mumbai. An easy mix of Telugu and Hindi would have been apt. Instead, we get the feeling of watching a partially dubbed film in which the Mumbai-bred characters are mouthing Hindi dialogues but we hear them in Telugu. A cursory explanation of the use of language would have made it less awkward.

Indian cinema has had much better sports action dramas. Here the characterisations and storytelling are so banal that it is tough to root for the underdog story. Forget the physical transformation and the action episodes, we have seen better performances from Vijay Deverakonda in Telugu cinema. The stutter also appears forced in some scenes. Ramya can pack a punch as a courageous mother but she is mostly made to scream and shout. Chunky Pandey appears in a brief character that begins as glitzy and fizzles out. 

This big-ticket film that aimed for pan-India attention ended up as an embarrassment. At the start of the film, the protagonist says that he is not good at narrating a story, but he will try. Perhaps that was a warning about the film. Thankfully, Liger does not end on a note that allows room for a sequel.

Liger is currently running in theatres

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Telangana / Telugu cinema

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Vijay Deverakonda's 'Liger' roars, albeit without emotion | Movie review

Sports movies where the underdog defies odds to become the reigning champion are usually tear-jerkers riding on the theme that life's drags can be conquered with perseverance.

At the heart of all these movies including a 'Dangal' or a 'Jersey' or closer home in Mollywood, a 'Kho Kho', is raw emotion. Probably not all are a perfect six or a superhit, but are great lesson givers at the end of the day.

Vijay Deverakonda's 'Liger' does not fall in any of these categories, though it revolves around an aspiring MMA champion, whose biggest enemy is stutter.

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'Liger' starts with a flashback with an angry-looking Liger, played by Vijay Deverakonda, narrating the struggles in his life, and how his mother (Ramya Krishnan) raised him without any support. At the heart of the story is a girl who becomes a major part of his life.

Romances are not alien to sports dramas. We had a 'Jerry Maguire' which had the right mix of both, and probably it gives more life to such stories. 'Liger' explores this struggle in a dispassionate way, to the point of becoming unbearable.

Why the filmmaker decided to pinpoint the blame on a girl for our aspiring MMA champion's mistakes, is out of comprehension. The rich, silly and spoilt lass with no other evil intention at heart is ‘yakshi’, or demon, for the hero's mother.

That Vijay Deverakonda decided to make his debut in Bollywood with yet another misogynistic storyline portraying women as eye candy, is disheartening. One must remember he had portrayed Arjun Reddy, the character that reeked of masculine toxicity, in the past. His performance was lauded but his choice of film was panned by some. Vijay is a good performer and a star capable of pulling crowds, but he needs to introspect the kind of films and scripts he does, if he truly wants to become the pan-Indian star that he desires to be.

The only silver lining in the story and in Vijay's performance is his stutter, which he pulls off convincingly.

But, probably this is also the reason why the story comes off as unconvincing. Filmmaker Puri Jagannath only highlighted Liger's stammer as his major obstacle. Otherwise, he reminds you of a flawless picture-perfect hero who breezes through life without much struggle.

That Ananya Pandey was okay to be portrayed as a girl starving for the male gaze and social media fame, in her first outing opposite a South Indian actor, does not bode well for an actor who has proved herself as an artiste in the past. Mike Tyson plays a cameo in the film and his appearance manages to draw plenty of claps and whistles from the crowd. Bringing a boxing legend who had potential to be a MMA star does good for the film. But the fantasy ends there. The dialogues and the remaining action sequence does not do enough justice to Mike Tyson who plays Mark Anderson in the film.

Towards the end, the story just goes out of focus. Why the story ends with the protagonist trying to save the damsel in distress instead of winning the world championship he badly wants to attain is lost on the audience. The film attempts to be inspirational at times, like when Liger becomes the bearer of the Indian flag at the world stage, but those scenes don't really don't carry the weight needed to raise the patriot in you.

Ramya Krishnan excels in Liger's mother’s role but the dialogues does not do any justice to her calibre. The dance, songs and costumes are the major attractions in the sports action movie, which purely ends up like a Bollywood masala flick.

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Liger movie review: Vijay Deverakonda tries hard but can't save you from this assault on your senses

Liger movie review: vijay deverakonda's bollywood debut is devoid of any coherent plot, performances, or action that does not involve the hero strutting in slow-motion..

An MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) match is about to begin. The referee has announced the name of the fighter from India as the 'Slumdog from the streets of Mumbai', and the waving tricolour has evoked a sense of patriotism already. And then we see the hero running on the street of Las Vegas trying to save the woman of his life from a bunch of goons. Vijay Deverakonda has a line right in the beginning of the film -- 'Main kahaani sunane mein kamzor hoon, fir bhi try karunga'. I wish the makers of Liger heard this over and over again before making this film and I bet they'd have realised that it shouldn't have been made. They're no better than Vijay's character in narrating the story, or wait, is there any story at all? Also read: Liger Twitter review: Fans calls Vijay Deverakonda film wasted opportunity

Vijay's acting chops, his good looks and chiselled body couldn't salvage this assault on senses which was nothing short of an embarrassment. With a screenplay so juvenile, story without a head or a tail, direction limited to showing the hero's moves in slo-mo, director Puri Jagannadh's Liger is extremely flawed and below average for the hype it created. By the time first half is over, you genuinely start to feel bad for its lead actor, who God knows was in what frame of mind when he decided to make his Hindi-film debut with Liger.

The film revolves around this young guy, Liger (Vijay) and his widowed mother Balamani ( Ramya Krishnan ), who have come from Telangana to Mumbai because she wants to see her son become a national MMA champion. Balamani roars for unexplained reasons. Or no, she mentions her late husband, Balram was a lion who died during a fight and she's a tigress, hence, their son Liger is a crossbreed between Lion and Tiger. Funny? No, it isn't TBH. Moving on, Liger manages to get under the wings of his MMA coach (Ronit Roy), who lays down the rules clearly and at the top it is staying focussed and away from girls. And then enters Tanya ( Ananya Panday ), who falls for Liger after seeing him thrashing 10 men. That's it, that's the story. And it doesn't go anywhere from here.

Liger is loud from the word go. Be it the characters, action in the ring or background music - it's all screeching in your ears non-stop for 140 minutes. One thing that's evident from the start is that Bollywood doesn't seem to learn its mistakes. How many times has portraying characters with disabilities such as speech impairment put filmmakers into trouble and Liger is no different. It shamelessly ridicules it's stuttering protagonist and it's rather distasteful at times. For instance, when Vijay tries to say his name for the first time, if you don't see him, you'd actually feel he's trying to mimic Suniel Shetty. After a point, it started to seem as if the makers didn't want Vijay to say many dialogues because his Hindi isn't as fluent and clear. So much for a pan-India film. I mean, I really waited for one good scene where I'd watch him say a few lines without other characters interruptingn, but it never happens. In terms of performance, no matter how good Vijay looks in every frame and brings his best to the table, the poorly written script with even worse execution terribly fails him.

Also, Vijay has had his share of troubles with Arjun Reddy that was tagged problematic and misogynist but Liger hasn't really learnt a lesson there either. A scene when Liger holds Tanya by collar and then pushes her, or how a girl is unapologetically referred to as a 'chudail' only reek of sexism and deep-rooted problems in the mindset. They try to balance it by cleverly placing a reference to Kabir Singh (Arjun Reddy's Hindi remake) and how men are egoistic and can't take no from a girl.

Talking of Vijay and Ananya's chemistry, there's none. They looked better together while promoting the film that they look on screen. While Vijay lovingly looks at her during the dance sequences, Ananya is only concerned about the camera and chemistry can RIP.

For Ananya, I don't know if she was told what she had to do in the film. Where was the acting? Was it overacting? Was she being herself? Was she trying to be cool? Or dumb? I don't know. I'm confused. Maybe, she just needs to take some serious lessons in acting, so we know she knows the craft. In Liger, her track, scenes, her dialogues, the way they're said - everything seems a joke to say the least.

How can I not mention about the beautifully choreographed and elaborate song and dance sequences in Liger. Well, Ananya Panday's outfit changes were the only fair justification to me why there were such pathetically misplaced songs that were thrown when the story didn't seem to move anywhere. Something is happening in one scene and suddenly the actors break into a glamorous song and dance sequence. Ridiculous.

Ramya Krishnan doesn't seem to have come out of her Shivagami mode from Baahubali. She is roaring and yelling her lungs out in almost every scene. However, her scenes with Vijay are endearing and the mother-son story at the core could have added value to the narrative. Ronit Roy delivers a decent act in the little part he has to play in Liger's journey.

The climax brings the much hyped cameo of Mike Tyson playing a fictional character called Mark Henderson and that, I feel, was the only saving grace. That one fight between Vijay and Mike, I wish, was the main story and maybe the film would have been somewhat different.

Watch it only if you're a Vijay Deverakonda fan, but even then, you'll come out feeling sorry for him.

Director: Puri Jagannadh

Cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy, Mike Tyson

• Vijay Devarakonda
• Ananya Panday
• Puri Jagannadh
• Ramya Krishnan

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Liger Movie Review: Vijay Deverakonda delivers a seeti maar performance but plot ne dimaag ki waat laga di

Saheli Maity

• August 26, 2022
• Comments off
• Bubble Reviews
• Liger Movie Review: Vijay Deve ...

Film: Liger

Director: Puri Jagannadh

Star cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy

Bollywood Bubble ratings:  2.5/5 stars

Liger Movie review: 

This time, I watched Liger, first day first show and oh boy, the response from the audience was quite enthralling. Fans were whistling and hooting the moment they saw Vijay Deverakonda in his best elements. In fact, a fan next to my seat was screaming so much, that my ears started to hurt. The film starts on a high note but the climax falls flat on its face. I really don’t want to bash Liger in this review but I’ll try my best to be nice to this movie. First – all the action sequences look absolutely thrilling and well choreographed. Second – when it comes to the story, is poorly and abysmally written. Third- the songs are pretty groovy but misplaced in the entire movie. In fact, they look quite forced to me.

Fourth- the climax looks absurd as if someone just hit the pause button and closed the window. It looks a little childish. Fifth- Ananya Panday and Vijay Deverakonda’s chemistry looks broken and faulty. I didn’t feel like watching them more. Sixth- Once again going to talk about the fights because they really enticed me. Given the fact that I absolutely enjoy action, the MMA fight sequence is my favourite in the entire movie. Similar fights were shown in Dharma Productions’ Brothers starring Sidharth Malhotra and Akshay Kumar as well as in YRF’s Sultan which I thoroughly enjoyed. Well, I have a similar feeling with Liger as well.

A story about martial arts, dreams and star-crossed lovers. Liger is an MMA fighter who trains hard and rises up the ranks with one goal in mind, to fight like his idol, world-renowned MMA fighter Mark Anderson and get noticed by him. In the course, he falls in love with a girl name Tanya and breaks his heart which only leads to achieving his goals. But will he achieve his goals? Does he become the ultimate champion? Well, that is what the Liger movie is all about.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Vijay Deverakonda (@thedeverakonda)

Star Performances: 

Vijay Deverakonda makes his big Bollywood debut with Liger. He essays the role of an MMA fighter who rises up from the ashes and creates a name for himself. Talking about his performance, as Ananya quotes in the film, Vijay delivers a full ‘paisa vasool’ and a ‘seeti maar’ performance. He shines in all the fighting scenes as if the MMA fighter fire has always been ignited in him and now he got the platform to showcase that in full glory. Since I enjoy MMA fighting and WWE, I was thoroughly enjoying his fighting sequences. Even though I don’t watch MMA fighting or WWE closely, Vijay quite adapted the techniques and fighting style nicely if not perfectly. It’s been done beautifully. Vijay is shown as a stammer and to be honest, in some parts, it seems like he is trying hard to make it look natural but comes out quite abruptly. In fact, in one scene, he speaks so fluently that I was wondering did the director or the actor forget that the character is a stammer.

Ananya Panday essays the role of the spoiled brat named Tanya who is a big shot and wants to become a huge social media influencer. She has a brief role and plays her part well but her character was crassly written. In fact, to be honest, I don’t even see the point of Ananya’s character in the movie, she has nothing to offer neither in the story nor with her acting skills. At some parts, it seems like the director just wants to remind the audience that Ananya is a part of the film as her role is so brief.

The two characters or I would say the actors who absolutely stole the limelight after Vijay are Ronit Roy and Ramya Krishnan. Ronit as his coach is tough and delivers a strong performance while Ramya brings out her Sivagami stance and poise in the film. Her big expressive eyes and strong dialogue delivery will surely remind you of Baahubali’s Sivagami but I like how she adds the fun element to this character.

Mike Tyson, the iconic boxer makes a cameo in Liger and oh boy, what a waste. His cameo was a dud and not impressive at all.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Ananya ?? (@ananyapanday)

Direction/screenplay:

I really don’t have many complaints about the direction but it is the screenplay that was problematic. First of all, I feel the plot is quite lethargic. It seems like the director Puri Jagannadh who is also the writer of the film has written the film in the most disinteresting way possible. From the character sketch to the plot, oh wait, there’s no story in Liger. If the man wants to be the best International champion, show his journey, his struggle and his achievements instead of him dancing on the beach and in pubs with a girl who doesn’t seem relevant to the story as well. I’m sure Vijay could have easily carried this film on his shoulder, no offence, Ananya.

In order to add commercial value to the film, Jagannadh seems to have lost his way to write a good story. Yes, there are some dialogues and scenes that will surely make you whistle but someone like me who really enjoys a movie with a good story didn’t get that in this masala-loaded film.

The other thing that really bothered me is the placement of songs. Some are really unwanted, there are some that just start in the middle of the scene, disrupting the continuity of the film. I was like why is there a song? As a matter of fact, the song placement was pretty disturbing.

Conclusion: 

In totality, Vijay Deverakonda looks absolutely dashing with his long locks and chiselled body. He shines in all the fighting scenes as this character was tailor-made for him. Vijay, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy and the ring fights are the only good thing that I enjoyed in the film, rest ne dimaag ki waat laga di. Lazy writing, weak story and poor execution don’t make Liger a delightful watch. Nevertheless, if you’re a Vijay, I can see you dancing to his every swag and his every killer dance move. You’re definitely in for a treat but if you’re like me who is looking for a good story, powered by good performance, it might disappoint you.

Watch the Liger trailer after the review here:

Also read: Vijay Deverakonda on Boycott Liger trend: Andar aag hai, Kaun rokenge dekh lenge

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LIGER MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

Liger is a film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh, and produced by Karan Johar, Puri Jagannadh, and Charmme Kaur under the banners Dharma Productions and Puri Connects. It features Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Pandey in the lead roles while Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy and others play crucial supporting roles. The film also has Mike Tyson in a cameo.

Liger (Vijay Deverakonda) is a martial arts fighter who wants to become the National Mixed Martial Arts champion, something his father failed to achieve. He joins an academy in Mumbai and trains hard but is distracted by his love interest Tanya (Ananya Pandey). After winning the event, his aim is to take part in UFC. How he manages to achieve this dream forms the rest of the plot.

For a sports drama like Liger to work, the film has to show us how the protagonist learns a sport, the downfall, the difficulties in achieving a goal, the emotional battles, what is at stake and more. However, this film misses these details. For a very long time you keep wondering what the film is trying to convey because it meanders around aimlessly.

Right from the hero introduction fight, Liger's character is invincible. Even the relationship between him and his mentor isn't established properly. The training sessions are just a few montages of Liger working out in a gym. Neither is the relationship between Liger and his mother or his girlfriend shown properly.

The film has plenty of songs and each of them are huge speed breakers for an already weak screenplay. Another issue is that all the songs are identical with respect to the mood and have no relevance to the plot whatsoever. For instance, there's a scene where Vijay Deverakonda is scolded heavily by his coach and mother for going behind Ananya Pandey, and he also regrets his actions. Immediately the scene cuts to a peppy love song.

The only saving grace of the film is Vijay Deverakonda's performance which reminds us of his role in Arjun Reddy. He really shines in the fight sequences, especially towards the climax. Ananya Pandey's role lacks any meat and only comes to life during the songs. Mike Tyson's inclusion in the pre-climax and climax scenes looked wasted and he could have been used far better.

The stunt choreography is also quite stylish and has been shot well. Except the stunts, the camerawork and the music don't offer much to the film. The cinematography is unstable, with the camera moving around without a purpose, and the music is too loud. In a few places, the music gives us cues on how to react to the proceedings on screen.

Overall, the film is average technically and below par when it comes to writing. A lot of scenes look inspired from other movies, and are predictable. This affects the engagement of the film badly. A lot could have been better, but if you're a Vijay Deverakonda fan, Liger is a strict one time watch for you. For the rest, there are literally no factors that redeem the film at any point.

LIGER VIDEO REVIEW

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REVIEW RATING EXPLANATION

பிரேக்கிங் சினிமா செய்திகள், திரை விமர்சனம், பாடல் விமர்சனம், ஃபோட்டோ கேலரி, பாக்ஸ் ஆபிஸ் செய்திகள், ஸ்லைடு ஷோ, போன்ற பல்வேறு சுவாரஸியமான தகவல்களை தமிழில் படிக்க இங்கு கிளிக் செய்யவும்      

LIGER NEWS STORIES

'LIGER' முதல் நாள் வசூல் மட்டும் இத்தனை கோடி ரூபாயா? மாஸ் சாதனை படைத்த விஜய் தேவரகொண்டா!

விஜய் தேவரகொண்டா நடிக்கும் LIGER.. தமிழ்நாட்டுல மட்டும் இத்தனை தியேட்டர்ல ரிலீசா?

LIGER படத்தின் ரிலீஸ்.. VJD & அனன்யா பாண்டேவுக்காக பூஜை செய்த விஜய் தேவரகொண்டாவின் அம்மா!

LIGER படத்தின் ப்ரோமோஷன்.. வயலில் டிராக்டர் ஓட்டிய விஜய் தேவரகொண்டா & அனன்யா பாண்டே!

Liger related news stories.

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• Vijay Deverakonda starrer Liger to release on 25 8 2022
• Vijay Devarakonda Liger Movie America Schedule Wrapped
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• For the first time in India, Mike Tyson teams up with this popular South-Indian hero ft Vijay Deverakonda
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• Popular Tamil South Indian heroine actress shocking statement about not getting married - See what happened
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Ananya Panday

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Vijay Deverakonda

🔴live: liger movie review | liger public review | liger review | vijay deverakonda, puri jagannadh videos, "நான் tr வளர்ப்பு, str-ன் உடன்பிறப்பு" tr மாதிரி அடுக்கு மொழியில் பேசிய cool suresh 🔥🔥 liger review videos, other movie reviews.

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Liger movie release and review Highlights: Audience diss Vijay Deverakonda’s film, here’s how much it earned in the US

Vijay deverakonda starrer liger movie release highlights: directed by puri jagannadh, liger stars vijay deverakonda, ananya panday, ramya krishna and ronit roy in pivotal roles. legendary boxer mike tyson will make an extended cameo appearance in the film..

Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday starrer Liger is out in cinemas. The  Vijay Deverakonda film got panned by critics and film buffs. The pan-Indian film, directed by Puri Jagannadh, follows the story of a boxer who fights against odds to make his mark. Liger is releasing in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. The promos and songs of Liger have not divulged the film’s story. The Dharma Productions-Puri Connects film has been in the making for three years and faced many delays due to the pandemic. It also stars Mike Tyson and Ramya Krishnan in significant roles.

Film trade analyst Girish Johar said that the audience is looking forward to Liger . “Dharma Productions is going all out in promoting the film. They haven’t fallen short in promoting the film in all nooks and towns of the country. The craze among the audience is huge, which is evident from the crowd that gathers to catch a glimpse of Ananya and Vijay at the promotional events,” he told indianexpress.com .

Film distributor Akshaye Rathi said, “The movie appeals to the common man of India, the mass audience in Tier 2 and 3 cities that goes to single screens, so it will be big on the current bookings. People will go to the cinemas in big numbers on the day of its release rather than booking tickets in advance.” Vijay and Ananya have been on a national tour to promote the film.

Deepak, who manages box office tracking website AndhraBoxOffice.com, said the film could open at Rs 35 crore. He told ndianexpress.com, “Liger should double the opening day collection of Dear Comrade. Between that film and Liger, a lot of things have changed. The market has become bigger and is more dynamic now. I think Dear Comrade’s worldwide collection was about Rs 18 crore. And I think Liger will make gross nearly Rs 35 crore on its release day.”

Follow all the latest updates about Vijay Deverakonda movie Liger.

Vijay Deverakonda tasted national fame with his mega hit Arjun Reddy. But it is with Liger that his audience from the non-Telugu states will get to see him in action. Talking about the north vs south debate, Vijay previously told indianexpress.com, "There’s a certain kind of cinema that India is watching and it so happens that the South of India is making it. But it’s a cycle, right now this is working then people will be tired of this and something else will come. Nothing is permanent."

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Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates . Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express .

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Liger Review: Vijay Deverakonda's Physique And Acting Chops Cannot Salvage This Massive Mess

Liger review: the lead actor is saddled with scenes in which the other actors are required to holler at the top of their voices to make up for the monosyllables that the hero utters with difficulty..

Liger : Vijay Deverakonda in the film. (courtesy thedeverakonda )

Cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Mike Tyson, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy, Vishu Reddy and Makarand Deshpande

Director: Puri Jagannadh

Rating : One star (out of 5)

The much-hyped Liger , Vijay Deverakonda's Hindi debut, is full of surprises. But these are strictly of the kind that the film and the Arjun Reddy star could have done without.

The action gets underway with the bar set so low that one is certain it cannot go any lower. But it does. That is the kind of movie Liger is. Terrible from the very outset, the only way it goes is down.

Deverakonda, having transformed himself physically, plays a kickboxer with a stutter who moves with his widowed mother from Telangana's Karimnagar to the metropolis of Mumbai with the aim of striking it rich as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. His mother, Balamani (Ramya Krishnan), sells tea from a portable kiosk to make a living and enable her son, Liger , to pursue his passion.

The lead actor is saddled with spectacularly sloppy scenes in which the other actors are required to holler at the top of their voices to make up for the monosyllables that the pugnacious hero utters with a great degree of difficulty. Wonder what made the star think that Liger was the right film for him to launch his Hindi cinema career with. He puts in a great deal of effort, but the film is way too wobbly to get off the ground and soar.

This is a Hindi-Telugu bilingual written and directed by Puri Jagannadh, whose Puri Connects banner has bankrolled the film in collaboration with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions. No matter in which language one chooses to see it - or say it - Liger is absolutely unwatchable.

The film was aggressively promoted by its gung-ho lead actors, Deverakonda and Ananya Panday, over the past several weeks. What did the duo see in Liger that enthused them to crisscross the country to push the film with such enthusiasm?

Liger has nothing at all - story, emotional depth, convincing mixed martial arts action or genuine high drama - to commend itself. It is beyond mucky. There isn't a single scene in the ham-fisted film that would suggest that any thought went into its making.

Shoddily written, poorly acted and ineptly executed, Liger never comes close to launching itself into a full-blown roar. Even when it attempts to growl, all that it manages to let out is a dreary groan. The cinematic sense and storytelling dynamic on show here is severely stunted and lost amid a whole lot of scrappy action.

So shoddy is the screenplay that the MMA-themed drama pulls off the impossible feat of continuously producing one scene after another more mindless than the one before. Just when you begin to think that the film has discovered its level and will now run with it with some kind of consistency, it catches you by surprise. It devises means to sink even deeper into a quagmire of clumsiness in the very next sequence.

Liger centres on a young man who has a severe stammer but is in full flow when he is allowed to express himself with his fists of fury. 'Fighter' is the only word that he can utter without a stutter. He seems to be perfectly at ease with the condition, but the world around him does not let him come to terms with it. Somebody asks him: How come you look so good and sound so terrible?

The worst aspect of Liger isn't that it is big, bloated and unbearable, but the fact that it is both horribly sexist and outrageously insensitive towards the protagonist's speech impairment.

Liger believes that God made women to remind men that there is something out there called hell. He calls them dolls or devils and neither is meant as a term of endearment. People around him make fun of his stutter. Even his mother sees it as a flaw.

The lady tells her son that everyone in this world has flaws but if he manages to achieve his goal his speech will begin to sound like a song. To rub it in, the script, with utter disregard for common sense, has Balamani say that a short man would seem taller or a dark-skinned man would appear fairer if he were to make it in life in his chosen field of endeavour.

The hero is named Liger because his mother insists that she is a tigress and her dead husband, a celebrated MMA fighter who died in the ring, was a lion. She drills into the boy that it is for him to complete his father's unfulfilled dream of become the national champion.

Liger 's mother pleads with a famed Jeet Kune Do trainer (Ronit Roy) to groom her son. Liger idolizes legendary MMA fighter Mark Anderson (Mike Tyson, in his first Indian movie, has an extended cameo that is cringe-inducing as everything else in Liger ), whose portrait hangs on the wall of his modest home.

Tanya (Ananya Panday), the younger sister of a rival fighter Sanju (Vishu Reddy), falls in love with Liger, leading to all manner of complications involving the guy's mother and the girl's brother.

At some point in the second half, the action shifts to the US of A, where an Indian entrepreneur (Chunky Panday) adds to the film's already high silliness quotient.

Tyson pops up as the film begins to wind down and nothing that the former heavyweight champion of the world does can lend any heft to the film. If anything, he only drags it down all the way to the level of his own bootlaces.

Promoted Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

Indeed, that is where Liger begins to hover by the time it has run its course. It is massive mess of a movie that Vijay Deverakonda's newfangled physique and action chops cannot salvage. As for the other actors in the cast, they ham their way through and compete to outshout each other.

Liger is a movie best avoided.

Vijay Deverakonda, Mike Tyson, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy, Vishu Reddy and Makarand Deshpande

Puri Jagannadh

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Liger movie review: Juvenile, primitive, woman-hating, quality-averse dude fest

Liger overflows with the signature tackiness of Puri Jagannadh’s films and the misogyny that Vijay Deverakonda has proudly worn on his sleeve since he struck box-office gold with Arjun Reddy

Language: Liger was made simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi. This is a review of the Hindi version

(Kindly note that our graphics cannot accommodate a 0 star rating. The rating given to this film by our critic is 0 out of 5 stars.)

I don’t know about these days, but back when I was in school, a bunch of kiddish “what is the height of…?” riddles were all the rage. I remember being asked by classmates through a storm of giggles, “What is the height of stupidity?” Answer: a person peering through the peephole of a glass door. “What is the height of optimism?” Answer: an ant climbing Mount Everest. Hey girls, I’ve got a new one for you: What is the height of optimism? Answer: a film critic watching Liger directed by Telugu veteran Puri Jagannadh , starring Vijay Deverakonda , and expecting anything other than the juvenile, primitive, woman-hating dude fest that it turns out to be.

Liger: Saala Crossbreed has been publicised as Deverakonda’s Bollywood debut and Ananya Panday ’s Telugu debut since it was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu. I watched the Hindi version and it is clear from the lip sync mismatch in places that not every actor did their lines in both languages. This is the least of the film’s problems though.

Deverakonda stars as the titular hero, named thus – his Mummy Balamani ( Ramya Krishnan ) informs us – because he is a cross between a lion and a tiger. Precis: he’s a fierce fellow with formidable physical strength. Waah , kya brilliance hai , Mummy. Irshaad .

Our chap is a mixed martial arts (MMA) practitioner whose driving force is anger over his father’s death. Dad was an MMA champion. It is never fully explained why his end should fuel a fire in the beta , or maybe I missed that in the din because Lion+Tiger’s Mummy roars more than speaks, but well, nothing much makes sense in this screaming gala so … whatever!

Now Mummy approaches a coach ( Ronit Roy ) and asks him to train Lion+Tiger=Liger to be a champ like Daddy. Apparently, she has been sweating it out selling chai all her life to bring up beta and arrive at this precise moment where she could drag him to a coach and inspire the man to accept a new protégé. Lion+Tiger is already a skilled fighter as we have learnt from a scene in which he bashes up bad people single-handedly near Mummy’s chai ki ttheli , but Mummy wants said coach to take him to the next level.

This brings up another point that is never explained: Mummy says she does not have the money to pay Coach Sir, she actually demands that he enrol Lion+Tiger=Liger in his academy, so you have to wonder why she waited so long to do this since Lion+Tiger looks very much the 30-something year old man that Deverakonda is. Note to self: stop trying to find logic here.

Another thing you must know about Liger is that the leading man stammers, and this is the axis around which the film’s comedy rotates. Not that one can expect anything better from such an unapologetically crude screenplay, but Liger’s speech disability is worth mentioning due to the duality in this film that purports to be critical of those mocking him yet constructs most of its jokes around his struggle to speak.

It’s hard to decide what is worse: Liger ’s cruel “ haklana ” (stammer) quips or its hate for women. Ms  Panday plays Taniya, a rich girl whose ambition is to be a social media influencer. The hero describes her as a “ khilauna ” (toy) by way of an introduction. It goes further downhill, since a woman in Liger ’s worldview is nothing but a distraction, an Apsara designed to cause men to lose their “focus” (the coach’s choice of words), a “ chudail ” (witch, so says Mummy) who dresses up and plays innocent to trap unsuspecting men into losing sight of their goals.

You think that’s bad? Oh then, sample what comes later – and I don’t even apologise for the spoilers in this paragraph. When Taniya rejects Lion+Tiger=Liger upon learning that he stammers, Mummy exhorts him to grab what is his by right, and so he goes chasing the woman he ‘loves’ with a stick in hand to wallop her into submission.

In another scene, the big hahaha is that in the middle of a clash with a woman martial artiste, Lion+Tiger grabs her breasts by mistake. You know from the tone of the narrative and his facial expression that this is meant to be funny.

To be fair – don’t ask why I am being fair to this terrible film – everyone is violent with pretty much everyone in Liger , and I’m not just referring to the MMAers who keep picking on each other. Balamani repeatedly hits her son, and the coach beats his students with a cane.

The irony is that Taniya makes a Kabir Singh reference in a conversation while chiding Liger for being like all men – incapable of handling rejection. The film obviously does not think that’s a bad thing though, considering that it’s an out-and-out celebration of his fury aimed at her and … erm … how should I say this? … his crotch. I kid you not. He thrusts his crotch at Taniya during a dance. In an MMA ring, he lies down on the ground and challenges his rival by pointing to his own crotch. And in a fight with a posse of women foreigners, he yells in fear when he thinks an opponent doing a leg split is about to crash her foot into that area because, as he tells her, no one will marry him (if she strikes there).

It is appropriate then that one of the moves assigned to Liger is an ape-like chest thump that comes up in a song ‘n’ dance routine and later, during an MMA match. Appropriate because this character and this film do not belong with Homo sapiens .

And oh, the noise! My ears. Please save my ears. Liger ’s sound and music are loud, but the most unrelenting auditory assault comes from Ramya who over-acts till kingdom come in this film, speaks at a permanently high volume and keeps her eyes perennially widened to an even larger circumference than Sunny Deol ever achieved when he inflated his nostrils in Gadar .

The tragedy is that Ramya can be a fine actor on a good day in a good film. In Liger , however, she is no better than the bad extras who play Taniya’s girlie gang.

Liger even throws some patriotism and a mention of Pakistan into the mix, in a transparent – but weak – attempt to jump on to Bollywood’s post-2014 deshbhakti bandwagon.

Liger overflows with the signature tackiness, immaturity and misogyny associated with Puri Jagannadh; misogyny that defines Vijay Deverakonda too since he has proudly worn it on his sleeve after striking gold with Sandeep Reddy Vanga ’s Arjun Reddy (2017 / Telugu). More’s the pity because when you sift out the chaff, you can see that he has a screen presence and acting chops and is, in fact, the only element in Liger that’s even marginally worth watching.

Panday, for her part, is yet to establish herself in Bollywood, but gave evidence recently in Gehraiyaan that she is capable of depth if she tries. Here in Liger though, she appears to revel in the superficiality of the writing and the script’s animosity towards women, which is particularly hypocritical if you recall that in a recent Koffee With Karan interview she spoke of the troubling potential influence that Arjun Reddy ’s gender politics can have on the public.

In the run-up to Liger ’s release, there has been some talk on north Indian social media about how the COVID-time pan-India box-office success of crass, misogynistic southern Indian fare such as Pushpa: The Rise (Telugu) and KGF: Chapter 2 (Kannada) is a certain audience’s way of asking Bollywood to regress in its treatment of women. While it is indeed true that Telugu and Kannada commercial films are dominated by marginalisation and in-your-face contempt for women, and that Hindi cinema, despite its male dominance, offers far more space for realistic representations of women than these two Indian film industries, let’s not get on our high horse and pretend that the Hindi film industry is a paradise in this matter.

If Liger feels like the scum churned out by Bollywood in the 1970s and ’80s, that’s because Hindi cinema has become more sophisticated in conveying its degenerative attitudes since then, whether with the glorification of patriarchy in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), upholding a conservative notion of femininity in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), or recently, romanticising the male lead’s violence in Kabir Singh (2019), Arjun Reddy ’s Hindi remake. In fact, one of Liger ’s producers is the Bollywood stalwart Karan Johar who debuted as a director with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai . The godawful Masti series (2004-16) is a Bollywood product. Akshay Kumar’s filmography even in the past two decades has been packed with films that trivialise women and position sexual harassment as courtship. And never forget that Prabhu Deva’s Wanted (2009) – the Hindi remake of this very Puri Jagannadh’s Pokiri – is what kicked off a new innings for Salman Khan in which he found himself embraced by educated women and what the trade describes as “class audiences”.

Many of these Hindi films are variations of Liger , some of them just have better packaging and lower decibels. Liger is an all-round attack on the senses, with its abysmal quality peaking in a passage featuring the global boxing icon Mike Tyson. This film does not have a single original or sensible bone in its body. I cringed through every second of it.

Rating: 0 (out of 5 stars)  

This review was published in August 2022 when Liger came to theatres. The film’s Telugu version dropped on Disney+Hotstar in September. The Hindi version too is now on the same streaming platform.  

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial

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Liger Review: Vijay Deverakonda’s Bollywood Entry is Full of Rage and Stupidity

Director: Puri Jagannath Writer: Puri Jagannadh, Prashant Pandey Cast: Vijay Deverakonda,  Ramya, Ronit Roy, Ananya Pandey

At one point in Liger , Vijay Deverakonda as the titular hero finds himself faced with a gang of violent women criminals. By this time, we've seen him effortlessly beat up large groups of men on multiple occasions so you might think winning is a habit for our hero. However, this time, Liger flails and flops. He can barely get a punch in while the women gang up and attack him with power and precision. By the end of the fight, Liger is left hanging (literally. Thus providing the audience with a dramatic, visual representation of how it feels to have your messages left unread). Take that, all you feminists who took issue with Liger manhandling the heroine during their first meeting, and the love song "Aafat", which suggests consent is a joke .

These aren't the only women who thrash Liger. There's also his mother Balamani, played by a perpetually-furious Ramya who has only one expression in the entire film: A relentless, eye-popping glare that makes it seem as though she's in a staring contest with patriarchy. Either that or she's just shocked at how bad Liger is. At the risk of mixing animal metaphors, writer-director Puri Jagannadh 's new film is an underdog story about a top dawg named Liger. We're told early on that Balamani gave him this name because he's a "saala crossbreed", the child of a tiger mom and a gent named "Lion Balaram". It's never made clear what lines Balamani and Balaram crossed, but the product of this seemingly-regular union between a man and woman is a very angry boy, with hair that resembles a mane, and a stammer. We're also told that he's from Varanasi and a chaiwallah. Do with that bit of information what you will. 

Liger's ambition is to be a mixed martial arts (MMA) champion, but his speech impediment holds him back. Even the film uses his stammer as comic relief, before doing an about-face and saying people mocking Liger's disability is justification for him to go on a rampage. Fortunately, the universe is on Liger's side. From a coach who agrees to train Liger for free to a desi American businessman who becomes Liger's sponsor for a major international tournament, solutions present themselves to Liger within seconds of a problem cropping up. 

While it's evident that Liger spent lavishly on its production — there are multiple foreign locations, elaborate sets, and the cost of getting boxing champion Mike Tyson to agree to being pummelled by Deverakonda — it doesn't look like there was any investment in a script. Puri Jagannadh's film might just be the worst in a year filled with cinematic duds (and we're only in August). 

Whether you're a fan of Deverakonda or one of those optimists who wants a fun night at the movies, Liger is a series of disappointments. It's badly written, shoddily edited; the action is boring, the acting is worse; and Deverakonda doesn't lose his shirt until after interval. The actor also turns stammering into such a parody that if there's an association of stammerers, they are well within their rights to boycott Liger . Somewhere under the heap of fight sequences that rely more on sound design for dramatic effect than good choreography, there's also an attempt at a love story. The rowdy beast of a boy falls in love with a spoilt little rich girl, which might have been interesting if Ananya Pandey 's Tanya wasn't also the classic bimbette. Tanya is a more persuasive argument in favour of misogyny than anything mens' rights' activists have come up with so far. It doesn't help that Deverakonda and Pandey have about as much chemistry as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has with the surrounding ocean. There's more sizzle in the moment when Deverakonda reaches out and wraps his hand around the neck of his coach, played by Ronit Roy . Roy, eyes glittering, growls, "I like that." Easy, Liger. 

In the past decade, mainstream Telugu movies have played a key role in defining ideals of Indian masculinity and articulating the anxieties of men who feel marginalised (despite forming the majority). Unlike the old Bollywood hero who flaunted his six-pack as an aesthetic feature, the Tollywood-inspired, new grammar presents the muscular male body only as a weapon and Liger is very much a part of this discourse.

In a recent interview with critic Baradwaj Rangan , Deverakonda said he wants to make "review proof cinema" and build a relationship with his audience that doesn't depend on the opinions of critics, whom the actor described as "outside noise". This is ironic because the only people who may be able to make Deverakonda's new film seem interesting are those with a critical bent who want to analyse what lies under the rubbish heap that is the plot and filmmaking of Liger . In the past decade, mainstream Telugu movies have played a key role in defining ideals of Indian masculinity and articulating the anxieties of men who feel marginalised (despite forming the majority). Unlike the old Bollywood hero who flaunted his six-pack as an aesthetic feature, the Tollywood-inspired, new grammar presents the muscular male body only as a weapon and Liger is very much a part of this discourse. We're not to view Liger or his body as something that gives or receives pleasure, but as a weapon of power. So Liger stays clothed and contained in the love story sections of the film, but when he's in the ring as a fighter, he strips down to near-nudity and determinedly thrusts his crotch, using that simulation of sex to indicate his dominance over opponents. On one hand, this deliberately-crude gesture is a rejection of social hierarchies because it seems to turn its back on what is considered 'classy' and sophisticated. At the same time, the object of the hero's desires is a rich woman who embodies all the privilege that is denied to the hero because of his social status. There's a clash of values here and most of the time, the films bury it under the sop of a contrived happy ending.. 

We'll know whether Puri Jagannadh's film has a happy ending in real life when the box office collections for its opening weekend come in, but irrespective of its earnings, there's a poverty in the imagination and the storytelling of Liger that is disappointing. Mass entertainers are supposed to be fun and inventive. They're supposed to respect the audience's time and money. Instead, we've been given a saala crossbreed that's all about stupidity and rage.     

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Liger First Review is Here: Is it Good or Bad? Find out

The first unofficial review of vijay deverakonda and ananya pandey's liger is here. the multilingual film will release tomorrow..

As the fans are waiting for the release of Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Pandey's much-hyped Liger, here comes the first review of the Telugu movie, which will hit the screens on Thursday, August 24.

The first review reportedly coming from overseas says it is a typical Puri Jagnnadh film and "one-time watch".

A user named Umair Sandhu, who often posts reviews of big films, wrote, "Yes for those asking, #Liger is a One time Watch Action Mass Entertainer with Typical #PuriJagannadh Style Direction. #VijayDeverakonda & #RamyaKrishnan Terrific Performances. Story & Screenplay is Decent. Overall i enjoyed this Saga. [sic]"

He had earlier claimed that he had access to the report from the UAE censor board. So, he could post the review well in advance.

However, his review have turned out to be contrastingly different from what the audience and critics had said about some films. Hence, some people do not trust his reviews.

What is the Story of Liger? "Liger is essentially an action thriller. It revolves around a mother and her son. The mother dreams to see her son as a national champion in Martial Arts. But he then goes on to become an international icon. In the process, he also falls in love with a rich drama queen. How does Mike Tyson get involved with it? This forms the story of Liger," a Telugu website quoted Puri as stating in the inteview.

Liger is a sports action film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, the film is produced by Dharma Productions and Puri Connects.

Vijay Deverakonda stars as the titular MMA fighter boxer alongside Ananya Panday,  Ramya Krishna, Ronit Roy, and Vishu Reddy in pivotal roles. American boxer Mike Tyson plays an extended cameo, thus making his acting debut in Indian cinema.

• Vijay Deverakonda

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Vijay Devarakonda Sends His Female Fans Into A Frenzy In Atlanta, WATCH The Video

Vijay Deverakonda Sends Female Fans Into Frenzy: Vijay Devarakonda's fan following is unmatched and unparalleled. While there have been numerous incidents showcasing Vijay's crazy fandom, a few videos making the rounds on the internet once again highlight the impact Vijay has on his fans, not just in his own country but on a global level.

Vijay Deverakonda Sent Female Fans Into Frenzy

Recently, Vijay was invited as the Chief Guest at the Women's Forum by the American Telugu Association (ATA) in Atlanta, USA. What was supposed to be an intimate gathering of 200 members at a small ballroom turned into a massive event as the space was filled beyond capacity. With 600 fans waiting outside just to catch a glimpse of the Indian star, the hall was packed to thrice its intended capacity.

The craze for Vijay among the women in Atlanta knew no bounds. As seen in the videos, as soon as Vijay entered the ballroom, the women went wild, hooting his name and literally falling for him. The atmosphere was electric, with fans capturing every moment on their phones and cheering loudly for their beloved star.

This incident showcases Vijay's immense popularity and the profound connection he has with his fans worldwide. His ability to draw such a massive crowd, even in a foreign country, speaks volumes about his charm and star power.

Videos of Vijay Deverakonda at the event have surfaced on social media. He made a casual statement by wearing a black blazer and a yellow beanie to amp up his look.

Vijay Deverakonda Sends Female Fans Into A Frenzy In Atlanta pic.twitter.com/YMVD1JQdFX — FilmiBeat (@filmibeat) June 12, 2024

More About Vijay Deverakonda

Vijay Deverakonda was last seen in 'The Family Star', helmed by Parasuram Petla. Even after massive promotions, the film couldn't earn much at the box office and received a negative response from critica and ended up as a damp squib. The actor is currently gearing up for his upcoming film with Gowtam Tinnanuri, tentatively titled 'VD 12'.

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