Vijay Devarakonda‘s Liger, which marks his Bollywood debut, was met with mixed reactions, with most viewers calling the film “formula” designated. While Vijay‘s transformation into an MMA fighter has been appreciated, people have described his hard work as a “wasted opportunity as the film doesn’t live up to the hype”.
Liger is supported by Karan Johar and also stars Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, and Ronit Roy. The Hindi version hits theaters on Friday.
Pre-Launch Buzz
Speaking about Liger in a recent interview, Vijay said he wasn’t scared before Liger the fate of the film. Vijay added that he had his mother’s blessings, the love of man, and the support of God.
Despite heavy hype surrounding the pre-release, Liger has not achieved a release positive review from fans. One Twitter user wrote:
“Vijay Devarakonda’s conversion to Liger is impressive and he puts in an engaging performance. But it’s a missed opportunity. The narrative is formulaic. Where’s the story? Meanwhile, a Twitter user praised Vijay and Ramya’s earnest efforts but questioned why their potential was wasted in a “bad” movie became.
In a series of tweets about Liger, the user wrote: “To be honest the golden days of Puri Jagannadh are over. It’s okay if your movies are bad. But why take a star like Vijay Devarakonda and an actor like Ramya Krishna?
Both are so serious in their performances that it’s heartbreaking to see them in a film that doesn’t give a damn. It’s so wrong.”
The plot of the movie
Devarakonda, who has undergone a physical transformation, plays a stuttering kickboxer who moves with his widowed mother from Karimnagar in Telangana to the metropolitan city of Mumbai to make his fortune as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. His mother Balamani (Ramya Krishnan) sells tea from a portable kiosk to earn a living and allow her son Liger to pursue his passion.
Actors have to shout at the top of their lungs to compensate for the monosyllables the martial hero struggles to produce. I wonder what made the star think Liger was the right film to launch her career in Hindi cinema? He’s trying hard, but the film is too shaky to take off and fly.
Liger’s mother asks a famous Jeet-Kune-Do trainer (Ronit Roy) to groom her son. Liger idolizes legendary MMA fighter Mark Anderson (Mike Tyson has a lengthy cameo in his first Indian film that’s as scary as anything else in Liger), whose portrait of hangs on the wall of his humble home.
Reviews
The film has been aggressively promoted for the past few weeks by its enthusiastic leads Devarakonda and Ananya Panday. What did the duo see in Liger that got them so excited to tour the country to push the film with such enthusiasm?
Liger has nothing at all: story, emotional depth, compelling mixed- Martial arts action, or highly dramatic realism. confide in. It’s more than dirty. There isn’t a single scene in the clumsy film that suggests any thought went into its creation.
Poorly written, poorly acted, and poorly executed, Liger never comes close to a full-blown roar. Even when he tries to growl, he only comes out with a sad moan. The cinematic feel and narrative dynamics in the show here are severely atrophied and lost amidst a lot of rudimentary action.
Trailer
The worst thing about Liger isn’t that he’s big, bloated, and obnoxious, but the fact that he’s terribly sexist and outrageously insensitive to the protagonist’s speech impediment.
Liger believes in these gods women remind men that there is such a thing as hell. He calls them dolls or demons and neither is a term of endearment. People around him make fun of his stutter. Even his mother sees a flaw in it.
The hero’s name is Liger because his mother insists, she is a tigress and her dead husband, a famous MMA fighter who died in the ring, was a lion. She conveys to the boy that it’s up to him to fulfill his father’s unfulfilled dream of becoming a national champion.
Liger begins to soar there once he completes his course. It’s a huge mess of a movie that Vijay Devarakonda‘s novel physique and action skills can’t save. The other actors in the cast make their way, vying to outshine each other.
