Explained: Here’s why Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday’s Liger failed at the box-office

Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday’s Liger was expected to be that one film that could’ve ended the industry’s parched phase. This supposed Pan-India film was promoted and released with much fanfare and when it did hit the screens, what followed was dismay and disappointment in terms of revenue and reviews.

So what possibly went wrong. Are these the reasons why the film sank and tanked at the box-office?

The Boycott Culture

During the promotional gigs of the film, the leading man said in a press conference that if the audiences don’t step into the cinemas to watch the film, ‘Dekh lenge,’ was the quip. In another interview, he said if they skip theatrical viewing, they’ll watch on OTT or television or their mobile phones. Was the animosity of the audiences towards the actor‘s arrogance one of the reasons? Talking about the same in an interview with Times of India, the distributor of the project, Warangal Srinu, said, “I can’t say whether he was over-confident. But if he was, how does it yet pay to not go to a film which is not bad? Do we realise that in our quest of banning actors and filmmakers, based on preconceived notions, we are ruining poor families of poor crew members. The movies will decrease and lead to chaos in several families who depend on it for their daily meal.”

The Supposed Conspiracy

In the same interview, he revealed how there’s a concerted campaign against him and his team. He said, “I suspect someone is trying to malign me, needlessly. There are camps even within the industry that work against each other. I was referred to as the man with a golden touch so far and now suddenly out of nowhere, baseless things are being written about me, without checking the facts. I quite liked Liger. Only the last 7-10 minutes of the climax wasn’t up to the mark. A lot of my friends who saw it with their families had the same opinion.” How much of it could actually be true?

The Storyline

A poor man falls in love with a rich girl and it isn’t the economic divide that causes the conflict, it’s the gaze of the central characters through the lenses of the filmmaker behind them, Puri Jagannadh. The first dialogue has Deverakonda’s character Liger declare that god has created women as beautiful toys. In another never-ending scene, his mother, the awfully loud Ramya Krishnan, advises his son to stay away from girls as they are nothing but witches and a form of distraction. It’s all cringe with no room for cheese. Tasteless and bland.

The Performances

Deverakonda tries hard and has a solid persona to fulfill the requirements of this hot-headed character who doesn’t allow his stammer to be his roadblock. The other central characters collapse like a house of cards. Ananya Panday has already become a laughing stock on social media after her character in the film aspires to go to Hollywood to pursue acting. For Krishnan, her vocals need some rest, and so do our ears.

The Budget

There’s an old saying in the industry that movies don’t fail, budgets do. Liger was made on a staggering cost of over Rs. 100 crore, with Rs. 35 crore as the leading man’s fee and another 25 shelled out to accommodate a highly ludicrous cameo by Mike Tyson, something even he doesn’t remember.

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