Is Vijay Deverakonda’s stutter in Liger a speed-breaker?

A stuttering hero is not uncommon in our films. Nobody knows this, but way back in 1958, Lata Mangeshkar even sang a song titled Do haklon ka suno fasana (listen to the story of two stutterers) in a film called Subah Ka Tara.

In Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khubsoorat(1980), Gulzar wrote a song where Rekha teases her elder sister about her prospective husband singing, “Achche ghar ka ladka hai par hak-haklata hai (the boy is  from a good family but he stam-stammers).”

Actors playing stammerers in Bollywood are not unknown. In the politically  incorrect days (they still exist for Puri Jagannadh, as in his  films, heroes court women with dialogues like, “I will rape you”), the stammer used to be formula for farce. Comic actors would get their laughs by stammering and they would be called names like ‘Haklu’. Even recently in Bachchhan Paandey, a character was given a stammer for comic relief. As though, Akshay Kumar was funny enough.

But stammering is no laughing matter for Vijay Deverakonda in Liger. His character has a distinct stutter and it’s not a joke. After Vicky Kaushal in Zubaan, Shahid Kapoor in Kaminey, Ranbir Kapoor in Jagga Jasoos, Vijay is the fourth hero to stammer till the end. Since it impedes, not only the character’s  speech but also the narrative flow, why was the hero given a stutter in Liger?

Director Puri Jagannadh reveals it was Allu Arjun’s idea. When they were shooting for  a film called Iddarammayilatho together, Arjun told Puri about “a Hollywood director who shows his heroes with some or the other disability”.

No idea whom Arjun meant: no filmmaker in the world would sit down to  purposely create a disabled character in every film. There is a difference  between a disability and an item song.

Anyway, Puri claims Arjun suggested, ‘Why don’t you write such (specially abled) characters?’

He says, “I felt stammering will be a good idea. Bunny (Allu Arjun) also liked it. I wanted to do a movie on martial arts. Keeping this character with stammering issue, I wrote a story on MMA backdrop.”

Martial arts and stammering…what a potent mix!

Most fans of Vijay Deverakonda feel the stammer comes in the way of an inherently implosive performance. Is Puri Jagannadh sure that the suggestion for putting in a disability for the hero in Liger came from a place of good intentions in Allu Arjun?

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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