The much-anticipated sports action film Liger, starring Telugu star Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday, is now in theatres but it seems to have failed at striking a chord with the audience and critics. Since its release, the film, directed by Puri Jagannadh and also produced by him alongside Charmme Kaur and Karan Johar’s Dharma Production, has been garnering negative reviews with film critics and fans writing it off as a ‘flop’ movie.
Many people on Twitter have expressed their disappointment at the film’s ‘weak script’ and ‘screenplay’ and called out Puri Jaganaddh’s ‘lazy direction’.
A movie reviewer @urstruelyPeter called out Ananya Panday’s ‘dud’ acting and the ‘too many cringe scenes’ in the movie.
Gone case..Not the pan india introduction vijay should get. Other than his screen presence nothing worked,pathetic writing and ananya pandya is a big dud as heroine..too many cringe scenes, so so music overall a bad film. 2/5 #Liger
— Peter (@urstrulyPeter) August 24, 2022
Some have called the film a ‘wasted opportunity.’
#Liger Review – Ve…Ve…Very Bad
— MIRCHI9 (@Mirchi9) August 25, 2022
Mirchi9 Rating: 1.75/5
Overall, #Liger is a wasted opportunity, no doubt. And the blame should be entirely taken by the actor for accepting and the director for the story. #MikeTyson regrettably plays a forgettable role. https://t.co/2IGgnnqv6f
Prashanth Rangaswamy mentioned how Vijay’s stammering in the film is annoying.
Sorry @TheDeverakonda – All your hard work in to dustbin. Your stammering on screen did not work at all .
— Prashanth Rangaswamy (@itisprashanth) August 25, 2022
Move away from Bollywood , do proper Telugu movies , it will automatically become pan Indian projects ! #Liger
A film critic going by the Twitter handle @venkyreviews rated the movie 2.5 on 5 and said that Liger is a “movie that had potential to be decent is wasted by senseless writing and cringe-worthy scenes!”
“Puri’s biggest strength is the hero characterization and dialogues but in this movie, he went completely over the top and it goes into the cringe zone. Tyson’s character is ridiculous. This is not a movie for VD to enter the Pan India market. Bad Choice #Liger,” Venky Reviews added.
#Liger A movie that had potential to be decent is wasted by senseless writing and cringe worthy scenes!
— Venky Reviews (@venkyreviews) August 24, 2022
VD tried his best and body transformation is great but his stammering is annoying. Heroine track is awful. Other than a few moments, Nothing else to mention.
Rating: 2.25/5
Film critic and reviewer Kamal R Khan (KRK) posted a series of Tweets wherein he too reviewed the movie by using the hashtag #LLagGayeLigerKe. In his latest Tweet, KRK predicted the losses the producers of the movie Liger are set to incur. “Finally I got official budget of #Liger and it’s ₹160Cr! @karanjohar released it in Hindi on Commission. While distributor Mr Warangal Srinu bought all south languages theatrical rights for ₹67Cr! He will lose min ₹30Cr. While Karan will lose ₹50Cr! #LLagGayeLigerKe
KRK shared reviews of Telugu movie critics, who too have written off the Dharma Productions-Puri film Liger. Some have criticised the director for his ‘senseless writing’ and rushed proceedings’, while some have called him out for the ‘ridiculous plot’ and ‘lazy direction’.
Dear @TheDeverakonda Aapke Saath Toh Telugu Main Hi Khela Ho Gaya! #LLagGayeLigerKe!🤪 pic.twitter.com/LXaO2yg9ip
— Kamal Rashid Kumar (@kamaalrkhan) August 25, 2022
He opined that the South critics have called #Liger an ‘unbearable headache.’
South critics called #Liger unbearable headache. अब जब साउथ के Critics फ़िल्म के लिए ये कह रहे हैं, तो अंदाज़ा लगाये कि मुंबई के Critics क्या कहेंगे! Congratulations to @karanjohar and @TheDeverakonda! Bhagwan ko ghamand Pasand Nahi hai. pic.twitter.com/TlyKYU7tel
— Kamal Rashid Kumar (@kamaalrkhan) August 25, 2022
KRK in another Tweet shared a YouTube video wherein fans have reviewed the movie Liger. He captioned his Tweet, “Liger Public Review directly from Tamilnadu. People are abusing @karanjohar @ananyapandayy and @TheDeverakonda | Liger Public Talk – YouTube.”
Liger Public Review directly from Tamilnadu. People are abusing @karanjohar @ananyapandayy and @TheDeverakonda | Liger Public Talk – YouTube https://t.co/D55xrIgQmv
— Kamal Rashid Kumar (@kamaalrkhan) August 25, 2022
Besides, any other movie critics have taken to Twitter to express their disappointment with Vijay Deverakonda starrer Liger.
“Other than VD’s physical transformation, film has no plus. Horrible perf from Ananya. No villain character (Puri is d villain). 1st half s atleast Bearable, 2nd half is total crap. Forced Mike Tyson Climax sticks out. Full of Outdated scenes. WORST!”, wrote Film reviewer CK Reviews.
#Liger (Telugu|2022) – THEATRE.
— CK Review (@CKReview1) August 25, 2022
Other than VD’s physical transformation, film has no plus. Horrible perf from Ananya. No villain character (Puri is d villain). 1st Hlf s atleast Bearable, 2nd Hlf is total crap. Forced Mike Tyson Climax sticks out. Full of Outdated scenes. WORST! pic.twitter.com/mFM4CZZhxW
All in all the Telugu star Vijay Deverakonda and Bollywood actress Ananya Panday’s pan-India film Liger has failed to impress cine-goers.
Directed by Puri Jagannadh, the sports-action film features Vijay as the titular MMA fighter boxer along with Ananya. Besides Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday, former world heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson is seen making a cameo in the film.
The Dharma Productions-Puri Jagannadh film has been in the making for three years and faced many delays due to the pandemic.
According to the trailer, Liger is the story of a youth born and raised on the streets of Mumbai who goes on to become a world champion in kickboxing.
The film hits theatres today in all languages, including Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. The Hindi version of Liger, meanwhile, will premiere only night shows today (August 25) and will have regular shows from Friday (August 26) onward. For all other languages, the film’s theatrical release date is August 25.
It is notable here that Puri Jaganandh is one of the most successful filmmakes in the Telugu industry and has delivered superhits like Pokiri (remade as ‘Wanted’ starring Salman Khan in Hindi), Ye Maaya Chesave among many others. Vijay Devakonda starred in the movie ‘Arjun Reddy’ which was later made into Hindi as ‘Kabir Singh’.
Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday starrer Liger faces boycott calls for its association with Karan Johar
Notably, prior to its release, Liger had also faced tremendous boycott calls by Netizens. The internet community had called for the Telugu movie “Liger” to be boycotted for a number of reasons, but mostly because Karan Johar is involved with it. The trend started after Vijay supported actor Aamir Khan and his latest box office failure, Laal Singh Chaddha.
In an interview with India Today, Vijay stated, “When you decide to boycott a film, you are not only affecting Aamir Khan, you are affecting thousands of families who lose work and livelihoods. Aamir Sir is someone who pulls the crowd to the theatres. I am not sure why this boycott call is happening, but for whatever misunderstanding, this is happening, please realise you are not affecting Aamir Khan alone but the economy.”
