Movie Review: Vijay Deverakonda’s Liger is bleating lamb

Hyderabad: What does it take to make a film like this? Tons of money, right connect, a bizarre repute and even more phantastic imagination, not to mention barren sensitivity. This is puerile stuff, its huge packaging and promos notwithstanding. In an absolutely skewed up and engineered attempt to get yet another Slumdog element into the […]

Hyderabad: What does it take to make a film like this? Tons of money, right connect, a bizarre repute and even more phantastic imagination, not to mention barren sensitivity. This is puerile stuff, its huge packaging and promos notwithstanding.

In an absolutely skewed up and engineered attempt to get yet another Slumdog element into the play field, Puri Jaganath adds a stammer to the guy who walks his maternal ambition to earn the MMA (Mixed Martial Art) tournament. Add to this the rags to riches and the rich girl poor boy romance you have 140 minutes of narcissism and box office ingredients at its crass filled abyss.

---

The film is a sort of half flash back half narrative through the protagonist Liger (Vijay Deverkonda) . The driving force in his life is his Mom (Ramya Krishna). The two some run a street side eatery and bash up villains (Makarand Deshpande) for a profession. In dramatic style Mamma and berserk son reach the sports centre run by coach (Ronit Roy) who first refuses and then accepts the new student .

However, the rigours of the real teaching are prefaced by menial jobs and insults by peers particularly for his stammer. Running parallel and without any connect is the story of this rich girl whose only desire is popularity on social network platforms. The paths meet and the ridiculous even by cinematic standards begins to happen. She woos the guy. He is all too willing to fall a prey in spite of warnings from mom and an injunction against women as a formula to success by the coach.

Also, there is rivalry between the Ronit School and the one of goons led by Sanju (Vishu Reddy). Lo and behold the skirmishes lead to street brawls and fights and yeah you guessed it right Tanya is the sister of Sanju. The entire script is shared between the fights and stunts in charge on the one hand and the song and choreographer on the other. Once in a way PJ creeps in with a pretentious story line.

As a viewer addicted to the formula of Telugu cinema (yes this is what it is even in Hindi) you know that this unkempt uncontrolled guy is going to make it. However, what takes the cake is when Mike Tyson is reduced to a joke in a fight with the protagonist in the climax. Add to this is a ham filled cameo from Pandey (Chunkey Pandey) who walks in as the saviour of the sport when no one is willing to sponsor the national champion and has time for some jingo statements but with a hidden agenda.

Footfalls at theatres are falling and falling sharply for a variety of reasons. Our film makers will see all the scribbles on the wall except the allegations of lack of quality. Tons of money and human effort are going a waste in this kind of cinema. It is signature Puri Jagannath with Dharma production backing.

Ananya Pandey obviously saw the cheque book and not the script. Well, no body except Ramya Krishna saw the script. Vijay Deverkonda has worked on his body. He sports the unkempt look which has gone out of fashion with Sanjay Dutt.

This Liger is a bleating lamb.