Liger (film)

Vijay Deverakonda who plays a MMA Fighter with a stutter, underwent a dramatic physical transformation for his role and went to Thailand for martial arts training.[10] After Janhvi Kapoor refused the offer due to dates issues, Ananya Panday was cast opposite Deverakonda.[11] The film's score is composed by Mani Sharma.[12] Composer Tanishk Bagchi is also signed for the film.[13] In September 2021, boxer Mike Tyson was signed for an extended cameo, thus making his acting debut in Indian cinema.[14][15]

Filming began on 20 January 2020 in Mumbai, with the tentative title Fighter.[16] 40 days of shoot was completed when production was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.[17] The filming resumed in February 2021. The second schedule was shot in Hyderabad.[18] The filming was delayed again in April 2021 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 lockdown. The cast and crew resumed the shoot in September 2021.[19] In November 2021, the cast and crew went to Las Vegas to shoot the portions with Mike Tyson.[20] The filming was completed in February 2022.[21]

Liger was released on 25 August 2022 in Hindi and Telugu along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.[27][28] Earlier in January 2021, the film's release date of 9 September 2021 was announced .[29] But due to production delays caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the film was postponed.[30] The current release date was announced in December 2021.[31][32]

The film's worldwide theatrical rights were valued at ₹81 crore, the highest for any Deverakonda film.[33]

The satellite rights of the film have been acquired by Star India Network, while the digital rights for streaming have been acquired by Disney+ Hotstar.[34] The film was digitally streamed on Disney+ Hotstar from 22 September 2022 in Telugu and dubbed versions of Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages.[35] The Hindi version premiered on 21 October 2022.[36]

AA Films and Sri Karthikeya Cinemas has acquired All India distribution rights while Sarigama Cinemas and Phars Film Co acquired overseas distribution rights.

Liger received negative reviews from critics.[5][6][7][8] Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times Of India rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "It's ironic that Liger is asked to focus multiple times in the film, but the script itself lacks the same focus".[37] Janani K of India Today rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Liger is a convoluted sports drama with a lacklustre story. In other words, Liger is a wasted opportunity".[38] Arvind V of Pinkvilla rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The performances are mixed at best. Vijay Deverakonda is measured and earnest".[39] Sonil Dedhia of News 18 rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Liger seems so long that by the end, I started feeling why did I get into this Aafat". She also called Deverakonda's performance as repetitive and tiresome.[40] Sudhir Srinivasan of The New Indian Express rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and called it 'a crossbreed between cringe and cliché'. He added, "The kicks and punches in Puri Jagannadh's weakly written Liger seem directed at us".[41] A reviewer for Bollywood Hungama rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "On the whole, Liger fails to impress due to its silly and bizarre narrative and poor writing. At the box office, it will have a tough time attracting the audience to cinemas".[42]

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the film 1 out of 5 stars and wrote, "There's nothing new or fresh about the ingredients that go into the making of this Liger. The plot is filled with all kinds of outlandish situations, and the treatment is jaded".[43] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 1 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Liger is massive mess of a movie that Vijay Deverakonda's newfangled physique and action chops cannot salvage".[44] Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated the film 1 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Director Puri Jagannadh's off-putting humour and ridiculous ambitions ensure Liger is a dead duck from the word go".[45] Suresh Bishnoi of cinereveal.com rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The film presents a fine example of action choreography, but casting, acting and direction is so sick".[46] Stutee Ghosh of The Quint rated the film 1 out of 5 stars and called the film 'a disappointment of colossal portions'.[47] Sanyukta Thakare of Mashable India rated the film 0.5 out of 5 stars and said, "0.5 is for the longest fight montage I have even seen, also only good part of the movie."[48] Anna M.M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated the film 0 .1 out of 5 stars and wrote "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".[49]

Sanjukta Sharma of Moneycontrol noted in her review, "Devarakonda has the swagger of a testosterone bomb but has no consistence in his impersonation of either the lover or the fighter. Liger is an example of how cringe-worthy big Bollywood can get to resuscitate ticket sales. This attempt is out-and-out a lost case of such desperation."[50] Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times wrote in her review, "Puri Jagannadh's Liger is extremely flawed and below average for the hype it created". She added that the film is devoid of any coherent plot, performances, or action that does not involve the hero strutting in slow-motion.[51] Shomini Sen of WION in her review noted, "Lots of mindless action sequences, arbitrary songs and a story that lacks logic- 'Liger' feels like an ordeal to sit through".[52] Aditi Chavan of First India wrote in her review, "Overall, Liger is a meme-worthy asinine film that does not do justice as Vijay's Hindi debut."[53]

Liger grossed ₹23.12 crore worldwide on its opening day including ₹15.3 crore from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with a distributor share of ₹13.45 crore including ₹2.56 crore from overseas market.[54] On second day it collected ₹7.7 crore worldwide, on third and fourth day it collected ₹6.55 crore and ₹5.24 crore respectively. So on the weekend it collected India net ₹35.44 crore and ₹48.5 crore worldwide gross.and on fifth day it collected ₹1.5 crore.

Liger performed poorly at the box office. Latha Srinivasan of Firstpost attributed the film's failure to over-hyped promotions and audience expectations.[55] Writing for Hindustan Times, Abhimanyu Mathur stated that the film's team tried to manufacture a pan-Indian success by casting actors from Hindi film industry and failed.[56]

In October 2022, News18 Telugu reported that the film has collected a total worldwide gross of ₹60.80 crore with a distributors' share of ₹28.20 crore. Thus, the film incurred a total loss of ₹61.80 crore.[57]