At some point, this cartoon show slips so lower than the deepest trenches that I can’t even bother to look up on the screen anymore.
Liger poster
Film: Liger
Director: Puri Jagannadh
Actors: Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday
Rating: 1/5
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Here’s what 'Liger', the film, doesn’t lack: It takes serious ‘tashan’ to bring down (Mike frickin’) Tyson for a desi flick, and beat the hell outta him, eventually! Further, to hire Tyson, from a ranch with cowboys on horsebacks, and call him Mark Andersen in the movie — he’s not even afforded a celebrity cameo!
Where does this swag come from? An inherent belief in Southern style stardom of a desi, homo-erotic hero (Vijay Deverakonda), that male audiences will worship — watching him go berserk, beating up randos — while they flex their own muscles, on their way out of the hall.
What’s this film about, apart from that? Two aspects that attempt to capture zeitgeist, in a way. That young girls are essentially about becoming social-media stars, shedding their clothes, or putting up viral reels online (that’s all that the heroine, Ananya Panday, does). And that men are glued to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) — so let’s just show them that.
Also Read: 'Liger' headed back to the cage after dismal opening-day figures
The same production company, Dharma, attempted a way superior film on MMA, 'Brothers' (2015), an official remake of 'Warrior' (2011), which apparently didn’t perform particularly well in theatres. 'Liger' is the making of an insane creativity — that should ideally be put to sleep — mixing MMA, with sufficient misogyny.
Wherein the guy is a shit-poster on Instagram, but the girl falls for this dumb-bell still. Because she’s just too dumb herself? She also instantly falls out of love, because? That’s what fickle, distractive “chudails” (witches), according to the guy’s mom, do — wheel the boys in, and dump them to go abroad (or some such).
Why does she dump him, though? Because he has a major stammer, and she first realises this only after having hung out with him quite a few times already.
But then again, “Hats off to chudails of the world,” says the hero, since they inspire men to do well at their job, and prove their worth. How does he prove himself?
By going to Vegas and fighting in the international MMA ring: “Success, after all, can make a tingu (short man) look lambu (tall), and a kaala (dark-skinned person) look gora (white!).” As the hero’s MMA sponsor — “Hey, I’m Panday,” that’s Chunky Panday — puts it, “Indians in the US have previously been engineers, doctors, scientists… Pehli baar mard aaya hai!”
The Rock-like ‘mard’ growls. Some dialogues are on echo mode. I’m more interested if the peppy dance tracks — with lyrics that go ‘Dikidi dikido’ or ‘Jawani teri aafat’ — shot with speeding drones will bang it at nightclubs. At some point, this cartoon show slips so lower than the deepest trenches that I can’t even bother to look up on the screen anymore.
Frankly, as a film buff, you shouldn’t even be looking at this review — peer at the post pandemic, theatrical box-office instead. If this is what it takes to desperately bring masses in, so other better stuff can be made/released still — so be it, I guess.
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