24 August 2022
Hyderabad

As a part of their promotional blitzkrieg, wherever Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Pandey have been to in the past one month or so to promote Liger, the response has been fantabulous with a sea of crowd thronging the venues to get a glimpse of Deverakonda, who has become a pan-India sensation even before a film of his released in the cow belt. As chants of his name filled the air, Deverakonda was overwhelmed with the love and adulation at places. Such is his pull among the younger generation that at places, the promotional event had to be called off over security reasons as attendance swelled beyond the expected numbers.

While much of his fame in the South and in the cow belt can be attributed to his cult classic Arjun Reddy, which has been watched by people cutting across linguistic barriers on OTT platforms, his stocks have been on the rise ever since. Ever since its inception, Liger has been promoted as a Hindi-Telugu bilingual and with the majority of the shoot happening in Mumbai and not to forget the prominent Hindi heavy hitters backing it, the fans have owned the film as their own. Coupled with the impressive promotional material dropped by the makers so far and the presence of former boxing heavyweight Mike Tyson in the film, no wonder the response to the promotional tours has been phenomenal.

Down here in Telugu too, Liger mania has gripped the two Telugu states and it is reflecting on the advance bookings. By Tuesday evening, the advance bookings in Hyderabad have grossed over Rs 3.25 crore and as things stand by, the figure looks to increase as the time progresses, indicating the anticipation surrounding the film. While Deverakonda is one reason for the extraordinary numbers, the other is Puri, who, over the years, has developed a loyal fan following, back-to-back flops notwithstanding. While one might argue that he is back in form after iSmart Shankar, which made a killing at the ticket counters, his real test is Liger. It is a product that he carved out carefully with a future superstar, for it determines where he stands in the industry. Both in Tollywood and Bollywood!

When this combination was announced more than three years ago, it raised quite a few eyebrows. Vijay, until then, was happy working with new directors and out of the blue, he decided to collaborate with Puri, who is branded for his commercial potboilers. It, however, was a clever move from the actor, with one eye on penetrating deeper into the masses, which Puri’s films usually do, and another on expanding his base into Hindi heartland. Now, if the response from the promotional tours translates into footfalls, Liger will emerge triumphant at the box office too. Not just the ring!