History
Balamani (Ramya Krishnan) has come to Mumbai from Banaras with her son Liger (Vijay Deverakonda) so that her son can make a name for himself in the world of MMA. Both support themselves by selling tea. Liger stutters, so he is mocked everywhere. But he continues to pursue his dream. He wants to honor his mother and his country by winning the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Championship. In such a situation, his trainer (Ronit Roy) and his mother give only one warning to Liger that all his focus should be on training and stay away from any girl. Liger works hard to achieve his dream, but in the meantime social media celebrity Tanya (Ananya Pandey) comes into his life. The two meet and fall in love. But the story doesn’t end here, it starts from here (which you won’t want to see at all..). Well, Tanya breaks Liger’s heart and that same anger propels her to the top of the MMA world. Watching this 2 hour and 20 minute long movie, the first thought that comes to mind is, what has anyone made of it?
directing
Puri Jagannath wanted to show this movie as an action sports drama. But the script is so weak that it can neither be an action nor a sports drama. The character structure is so shallow that you can’t relate to anyone. It won’t be wrong to say that director Puri Jagannath looked completely out of form here. Liger took three years to make, but watching the film feels like nothing at all. The clichéd story and hastily made climax. The film does not impress at all. The movie goes well for the first 20 minutes but then with every passing minute the story graph goes downhill.
acting
Vijay Deverakonda made his debut in the Hindi film industry with this film. With this pan-Indian film, he had a golden chance to become a pan-Indian star. But alas, his hard work completely failed the story of the film. Well, one wonders how Vijay agreed to such a weak story! Speaking of acting, Vijay’s attitude fits Liger’s character quite well. He held back his words and expression. Especially in the action sequences, he looks great. I wish the director had focused a little on the emotional side of the character as well.
Ananya Panday plays the role of a social media star in the film and we would like to say that this is her weakest performance till date. It’s disappointing to see his character. Neither Ananya’s character has any motive nor chemistry with Vijay. However, when it comes to the supporting cast, Rohit Roy, Ramya Krishna, Chunky Pandey and Vishu Reddy… all fall prey to characters who don’t matter in any scene. At the same time, what is there to comment on Mike Tyson’s cameo. They may not even know what has been done to them.
technical side
The story of the film is also written by Puri Jagannath which is very weak and undesirable at many places. It is surprising to see the film that such scripts and dialogues are being written and released in 2022 as well. Here every character is connected in a structure. The female characters are portrayed in a very stereotypical way. Halfway through the movie, the character of Liger’s mother, ie. Ramya Krishnan, is heard saying that he should stay away from girls who apply lipstick, wear short clothes or any girls… because the focus will be taken away from MMA in the girl’s affair.
Vishnu Sharma’s cinematography is average. The film was shot in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Las Vegas. Despite being such a budget film, the locations do not play any role in the story. Junaid Siddiqui’s editing could have been tighter.
music
The less written or said about the songs from the film, the better. There are four songs in the film and all four just seem somehow embedded in the story. Nor do they seem like part of the story or add anything to the characters. At the same time, the background score given by Sunil Kashyap is the best thing about the film.
rating
“I don’t know how to tell the story right, but I’ll try anyway,” Liger says in the film’s opening scene, and the film cuts to a flashback. To be honest, this dialogue of the movie seems to match the reality of the movie somewhere. The team of this film also had no idea how to tell the story.
Some films are not films but punishment. Liger is one of them. There is no doubt that Vijay Deverakonda has worked hard for this film and it shows on screen as well. But the script is so weak and the direction so sluggish that no one can save this movie. 1.5 stars on Liger from Filmybeat.
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