Most of the time, Bollywood gets away with a lot of bad cinema because we’re not really supposed to take it seriously. However, sometimes, the cinema is so bad that everyone involved needs to be held accountable. If we were to call Liger a bad film, that would be the understatement of the year. It’s not just a badly made film, it’s a horrifying justification of misogyny.

Why was Liger made?

Vijay Deverakonda plays the titular role of Liger, whose mother declares that his father was a lion and she’s a tigress. Hence, the boy is named Liger. He’s a strong “fighter”, but the boy struggles in life because of his abject poverty and his stammer. And even now, in 2022, Karan Johar and gang decided it was perfectly okay to produce a film that constantly pokes fun at people who stammer. Ramya Krishnan plays Balamani, Liger’s mother and the self-sacrificing ideal woman who literally puts her son in one of the most dangerous professions in the world. There’s nothing much to say about Ramya’s performance here except that it’s a continuation of her permanently angry character from Bahubali. Ronit Roy plays Liger’s guru in mixed martial arts, and in the first half of the film, he has a much stronger screen presence than the lead actor. This isn’t saying much, honestly, because Vijay Deverakonda is a disaster in this film. There are actors who overcome bad writing, bad direction, and a terrible story and still manage to deliver a good performance. Vijay Deverakonda achieves nothing of the sort in Liger. Even in scenes that are just about him and his newly sculpted abs, he is just cringe personified.

And now we come to the female lead of the film, Ananya Panday. Her character, Taniya, is introduced in the only way that is considered fit for a rich, spoilt girl in Bollywood–in a song, showing off her money, dancing with her sidekicks. It’s painfully obvious why Ananya Panday is in this film but she can’t even pull off a role which required minimal acting and basic emotions. After Liger, we have now seen enough to know that Ananya Panday needs either some intense, life-changing training in her profession or she needs to find another job.

What we watch on screen tends to somehow filter into reality, especially where Bollywood is concerned. And that’s the scary part about Liger. There are multiple instances of misogyny in this film and all of them have been used to invoke laughter from the audience. This tactic, unfortunately, worked. When we went to watch the film, the theatre was mostly full of men. A scary thought in itself for most women. Then, we see a scene where Ananya Panday grabs Vijay Deverakonda’s collar. In retaliation, as a show of “equality”, he grabs her too. But she’s not wearing a top with a collar. She’s wearing an off-shoulder top, so he grabs her from her chest. The whole theatre clapped and roared with laughter when this happened. Thank you for this, Puri Jagannadh and everyone in this film. Thank you for literally giving a thumbs up to violence against women.

In Liger, women have no agency. They are constantly referred to as evil, unnecessary, useless distractions that stop men from being the superstars they were born to be. The horrifying objectification in the songs of this film doesn’t help either and is highly uncomfortable to watch. Puri Jagannadh and his team have done everything possible to make Liger an unpleasant, disturbing film for women.

The fighting isn’t good either

What makes a good fight in cinema? Two worthy opponents, incredible cinematography, and attention to detail. However, Mr Liger is apparently so strong that he has no competition. He sails through an international MMA championship with barely a scratch on him. The fighting is clumsy and doesn’t keep your attention on the fighters for more than a few seconds.

The one smart thing that the makers of Liger did was to keep Mike Tyson for the end. His cameo, teased in the trailer, is probably the only reason why people stuck around. Because when the hate against women and rancid attempts at humour get old, you’ve got to give the audience something to wait for.

We generally leave it up to our readers to decide whether they want to watch a particular film or not. But where Liger is concerned, we would strongly urge you to avoid it. There is absolutely no redeeming factor in Liger, and it’s terrible for your health, both mental and physical.

Liger is literally sickening.

Featured Image Source