Vijay Deverakonda ‘naturally aggressive’; this triggered #BoycottLiger movement: Ram Gopal Varma

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is known for his controversial statements which often land him into trouble. In a recent interview with a Telugu channel, the Sarkar Raj (2008) director spoke about the debacle of Puri Jagannadh’s Liger starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday in lead roles.

Varma said that Vijay is ‘naturally aggressive’ and someone who loves to grab attention. He added that other South stars like Prabhas, Jr NTR and Ram Charan get love and respect from the audience because of their humility.

RGV also stated that Vijay’s aggressive speeches during the promotions of Liger might not have gone down too well with the audiences, which triggered the #BoycottLiger movement on social media and culminated in the film’s debacle.

For the unversed, Liger marked the Hindi cinema debut of Telugu heartthrob Vijay Deverakonda. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, the film was produced by Dharma Productions and Puri Connects. Vijay featured as the titular MMA fighter alongside Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, and Ronit Roy in pivotal roles. American boxer Mike Tyson also has an extended cameo in the sports action film.

Liger was released theatrically on 25 August 2022 and received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. The film was a box-office bomb.

Latha Srinivasan of Firstpost attributed the film's failure to over-hyped promotions and audience expectations. Some critics even said that the makers of Liger tried to manufacture a pan-Indian success by casting actors from the Hindi film industry but failed.