Liger Movie Review: Over-rated combo’s flop show

“Liger” starring Vijay Deverakonda in the titular role is the Bollywood debut and the first pan-Indian movie for the actor. Puri Jagannadh, one of Tollywood’s top directors is going to make his strong comeback into Bollywood with this mass action commercial movie. The film created huge buzz across India with its trailer and other promotional activities. “Liger” was released in theatres and let’s see how it fares at box-office.

Story

Liger(Vijay Deverakonda) along with his mother(Ramya Krishnan) goes to Mumbai from Karimnagar to get trained in MMA. He works as a helper in the MMA training classes and waits for the right time to showcase his skill. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a rich girl (Ananya Panday) and later breaks up due to a sensitive conflict. Liger focuses back on his career and enters the ring of MMA fighting. He becomes a national champion and qualifies for the international MMA championship. Liger meets the international boxing champion, Mike Tyson, in this journey and also gets back his love. How Mike Tyson and Liger are related to each other and how Liger wins the international MMA championship is the rest of the narrative of the film.

Analysis

Puri Jagan takes off the film in a promising manner, however, the impression fizzles as he delivers very predictable stuff scene after another. Vijay’s characterisation stands out in the first half while the terribly written love thread between the lead pair plays the spoilsport.

As in a typical sports film template, “Liger” deals with the ambitious hero. In the training phase, the director downplays him as an underdog. Vijay’s clash with rich counterparts and typical love track episodes are very predictable stuff from Puri Jagan and the team. Given the nationwide buzz, this film got from the beginning, this monotonous script and lackluster direction is unacceptable. Despite predictable narration, the first half is still able to watch. The conflict point between the lead couple is awful; the eventual justification for the conflict is laughable. We can call out this film’s love track as one of the worst in Puri Jagan’s career. He has the capability of delivering engaging threads, and characterization with ease. That strength of Puri Jagan is a miss in “Liger”.

Once the hero becomes the national champion, the story goes over the top. Liger gets an invitation to the international championship, Ali helps the cause, and Chunkey Panday sponsors the trip as such scenes are silly.

By pre-climax, the film sounds like a comedy film rather than an inspiring sports one. The climax episode with Mike Tyson is a waste of time and money. Ramya Krishna’s characterisation is good in the first half, but the over-the-top antics in the second half are unbearable. A great opportunity to continue the pan-Indian Telugu film’s success streak is missed by Puri Jagan. His typical strengths are no longer visible.

Vijay Devarakonda did all the hard work, and his screen presence and performance are very good. Director Puri Jagan has poorly executed the script and failed to put up engaging scenes. Vijay fans and mass film lovers can try this film!

Performances:

Vijay Deverakonda as “Liger” is incredible and irreplaceable. As the actor himself said during the promotions of the film that he gave everything for the film, the same was truly reflected on screen and one can witness the enormous efforts Vijay had put in for the film, both physically and on acting excellence. He perfectly fits the role of an MMA fighter by his looks and that is the core strength of the film. Vijay’s stammering for the character also worked out very well. “Liger” is Vijay Deverakonda’s best work to date as an actor.

Ananya Panday on her debut in Tollywood is quite impressive. She is very glamorous with her screen presence. Her attitude and energy in the songs, especially Aafat and Akdi Pakdi, stand out to be special. But the character didn’t have a scope to perform. Ramya Krishnan as Vijay Deverakonda’s mother shined in her role. Her ferocity and intensity are what a passionate mother needs and she portrays the same. Mike Tyson, the international champ is undoubtedly the special attraction of the film but the way Puri Jagannath used him will be silly. Getup Srinu makes his mark with comedy timing.

Technicalities

Puri Jagannadh last movie came more than three years ago, which is quite an unusual gap for him. However, looking at the scale and setting of “Liger”, one feels it might be justified for a change. Like most mass masala films, the story is wafer-thin and predictable for Liger. We know where it’s headed and what will happen in the end. It is that predictable.

Multiple composers provide music for Liger. They don’t have the Puri Jagannadh hit music appeal in Telugu, audio-wise. But trendy on-screen picturisation and coming in short bursts offer relief. Sunil Kashyap’s background is okay in parts, even on predictable lines. Vishnu Sarma’s cinematography is neat. The visuals and the production values give “Liger” a biggie appeal that must be seen on the big screens. The editing by Junaid Siddique could have been better. By the end, Liger feels very lengthy and tiresome.

Positives:

Vijay Deverakonda’s screen presence

Mass appealing dialogues

Negatives:

Terrible love track

Highly predictable sports template

Nonsensical second half