Vijay Deverakonda's 'Liger': Top 10 things to know about his Bollywood debut

Telugu superstar Vijay Deverakonda’s optimism about his own movie’s perceived success might seem audacious, but the rakish-looking hero is convinced that ‘Liger’ has ‘winner’ written all over it. For those in the dark, the Hindi film industry has been going through a relatively dry spell at the box office with recent star-led films like Aamir Khan’s ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’ failing to set the tills on fire. But Deverakonda is unfazed by the underwhelming outcome of these films. “I don’t know what’s working in the Middle East, but in India the only films that are working are larger-than-life — be it ‘RRR’, ‘KGF’ or ‘Pushpa 2’. Even in the West, superhero films like Avengers are exciting the audience … My biggest confidence is that our film ‘Liger’ is larger-than-life,” said Deverakonda in an interview with Gulf News.

‘Liger’ sees the dreamboat play an mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, while his co-star Ananya Panday plays his love interest Tanya. The lead pair have been on a robust publicity campaign for this film and everywhere that Deverakonda went, he unleashed a fan-frenzy rivalling a rock star at a concert. So when we pinned down Deverakonda, 33, for an interview we asked him to demystify his own crazy appeal. “I don’t know why they love me so much. I was a boy born in Hyderabad. I grew up and studied there but I had dreams of becoming an actor. It’s just been five or six years, I am yet to digest the amount of love I get from states and cities I have never been to,” said Deverakonda, adding that he feels a tremendous amount of responsibility towards those who adore him. “I am yet to figure it out and I don’t know what to do with such kind of love. But I am beginning to feel responsible,” said Deverakonda. While he’s yet to figure out his own spectacular appeal and magnetism, here are 10 things that we know about this film so far …

This is Telugu heart-throb Vijay Deverakonda’s first Bollywood splash and the actor in an interview with Gulf News described his launch vehicle in Hindi cinema as a full-on ‘mass commercial entertainer’. “It’s a larger-than-life film that promises to deliver a cinematic experience. The scenes will give you a high. You will laugh and be entertained … There are lots of moments to cheer, hoot and clap for. It’s going to be a social experience where you can go with your friends and celebrate big cinema,” said Deverakonda.

The actor, who plays an MMA fighter in this action drama, also lets us in on a secret. When he first heard the script of ‘Liger’, directed by Puri Jagannadh and co-produced by movie mogul Karan Johar, the word “madness” sprung to his mind. “When I heard the script, I thought it was madness. While we did the film, it felt like madness. There’s a certain madness to the film which will be very entertaining,” said Deverakonda. Interestingly, the early reviews of this film have not been flattering, with a few critics describing the movie watching experience with similar adjectives.

Deverakonda shares the screen with Panday in this film. The actress, who made her debut with Johar’s ‘Student Of The Year 2’, has a rather interesting way to encapsulate the film. “We often describe this film, ‘Liger’, in five words: Mother, Son, Love, Mike Tyson and MMA.” Apparently, she heard the narration like how an audience would react to it rather than an actor alone.

It’s not Deverakonda’s Bollywood debut alone. It’s a first for former boxing champion Mike Tyson. He makes an extended cameo in his career’s first Bollywood project as an actor.

While Tyson’s Bollywood debut could have been accidental and without design, Deverakonda gave this career progression a lot of thought. The ‘Arjun Reddy’ actor believes that the Hindi market is ‘huge’. “Hindi is the [most widely] spoken language in the country [India] … And, for anybody who’s doing any form of art, the bigger your market size, the more people you reach. And when you are an actor, you want to get your work to the biggest audience. ‘Liger’ is not just a Telugu film, it’s a film that will be viewed across the country. We are making it in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada. ‘Liger’ is a film for the country. Any boy will connect to the idea of having big dreams or the thirst for making it big. No matter what your background, you will connect to the love story and the story about that irrevocable connect between a mother and son,” said Deverakonda.

While Deverakonda will aim to conquer the Hindi belt, his co-star Panday hopes to penetrate the South Indian market. She has a simple theory. “As actors, we want our stories and our films/characters to reach as wide as an audience as possible. I want that as well. For me, it wasn’t about the language that it was going to be shot in or released, it was also about the story. I am open to doing a film in any language as long as the story and the characters appeal to me,” said Panday.

Like Deverakonda, Panday too believes that ‘Liger’ has the potential to ignite the box office and offset the slump faced by Bollywood films in the recent past. But unlike her male hero, she’s cautiously optimistic. “I don’t think anyone knows what’s working and what’s not working … But I heard Alia [Bhatt] say this in an interview that films about heroism — not limited to male stars but female stars too — are working. For example, if you take ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, films about the triumph of human spirit and heroism worked … Our film ‘Liger’ has that same theme about the resilience and victory of human spirit. After the pandemic, people want to see larger-than-life films and ‘Liger’ ticks that box.”

Deverakonda plays an MMA fighter with a stutter and the actor claims being differently-abled in this film made him highly sensitive about those who face similar issues in real life. “Even when I was on set performing with a stutter, I could feel people waiting to judge me. So I can image how somebody with a stutter might feel from inside. Stammering was an important part of my character. We all have some sort of weakness and insecurities in your life. But this film shows that you shouldn’t let that stop us from being ourselves. Own you insecurities,” said Deverakonda. Apparently, the stutter makes his character diffident on many occasions. “He feels vulnerable if he wants to approach a girl he doesn’t know … But he’s still a confident boy who has dreams and aspirations.”

Liger’ is spearheaded by a relatable hero, claims Deverakonda. “This is a film that makes a hero out of everybody who stammers … For instance, after ‘Arjun Reddy’ released, I had doctors who came up to me and said that finally they are happy to see a film which shows a doctor as the hero. They felt like I represented them,” said Deverakonda. In ‘Arjun Reddy’, which was later made into the controversial ‘Kabir Singh’, this actor played a medical professional with questionable temper and attitude towards women.

Deverakonda is an actor who seems to have the power to unleash mass hysteria among his fans in India. During the promotions that saw the lead pair travel to various Indian states, the actor’s public appearances at malls and public places triggered stampedes. During some occasions, the actor had to leave his film promotions midway to ensure safety of the crowd that swelled up in no time. Panday who witnessed it all described as a surreal experience in her life. “I felt like I was with a rock star and that we were performing at concerts … The craziness was everywhere he went. I will never forget the promotions of this film. The outpouring of love and joy was memorable,” said Panday. She has deconstructed his fanfare in her own head. “The thing about Vijay is that he connects with people instantly. He doesn’t take his stardom too seriously … He has something honest about him and he speaks his mind,” said Panday.