It's Vijay Deverakonda vs Mike Tyson in the Liger trailer. First reactions
The trailer for the upcoming sports action film, Liger: Saala Crossbreed launched at Hyderabad's Sudarshan Theatre today. The film stars Telugu action star Vijay Deverakonda as an MMA fighter with the stage name 'Liger' (since he’s apparently the cross between a lion and a tiger) and features Mike Tyson in his first cameo in Indian cinema.
The two lead stars: The trailer features Deverakonda, buffed up and a little rough around the edges as a stuttering fighter who’s either beating the crap out of others or getting beaten up himself. Ananya Pandey stars opposite Deverakonda as his love interest in the film, as the two are featured sharing a passionate bike ride after dark.
The Champ and the Mother: The Former American heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson makes a dramatic entrance in cowboy garb towards the end of the trailer as he mocks, “If you are a fighter, then what am I?” followed by a cackling laugh. The film also stars Ramya Krishnan as a mother figure, yet again, following her role in Baahubali, as well as Ronit Roy and Makarand Deshpande in supporting roles.
What we know: The film follows Deverakonda’s seeming rags-to-riches story as he channels his testosterone-fueled frustrations of his impediment, his girlfriend cheating on him and the burden of representing his country as a fighter into the ring, and thrashes the living daylights out of a few dozen background characters.
A steamy teaser: Earlier this month, Deverakonda posted a provocative poster for the film on Instagram, as he poses, stark naked, with nothing but a bouquet of roses to cover his modesty. Devarakonda also spoke about how drained the film had left him as bulking up for the role was physically demanding.
The crew: Written, directed and produced by Telugu filmmaker Puri Jagannadh and co-produced by Karan Johar, Liger was shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu and is being hailed as a ‘pan-Indian’ film. Production for the film began in early 2020 but was halted due to COVID restrictions and only resumed and completed production by February this year.
With Vishnu Sharma as cinematographer and Mani Sharma as composer, the trailer also features the song ‘Akdi Pakdi’ by Lijo Gearge and DJ Chetas. Production also included stunt director Kecha and Daniele Balconi as stunt coordinator, overlooking the high-octane action sequences shot in Thailand.
The first-look for the film was released across multiple cities today with Telugu stars Chiranjeevi and Prabhas unveiling the Telugu trailer, Dulquer Salmaan revealing the Malayalam trailer and Ranveer Singh dropping the Hindi trailer today. Liger is set to release on 25 August, 2022.