Liger movie review: Vijay Deverakonda film is a cringe-fest of mammoth proportions

So, first off, in case you were wondering, ‘Liger’ is what you get when a lion and a tiger mate. Got it? Not really? Never mind, here’s a ready reckoner of what to expect from the new Vijay Deverakonda flick, directed by Puri Jagannadh, made in Hindi and Telugu.

Ready? Here you go. A kickboxer (Vijay Deverakonda) adorned by a series of boxer shorts and a bronzed, muscled chest, has a couple of markers — a mother (Ramya Krishnan), and a stutter. The mom is a latter-day Mother India type, full of fire and brimstone. The speech impairment may make Liger a slow speaker, but there’s nothing wrong with his stripes. He jabs and kicks, feints and lunges, as he readies himself for his big break, which will allow him and his mentor (Ronit Roy) to make India proud in the global arena.

That was the nutshell. Breaking it open, the age-old themes of fierce-mother-loving-son twinning with macho chest-thumping sporty patriotism is used to roll out a cringe-fest of mammoth proportions. What do you want first: character upon character dissing the stutterer for, wait, stuttering (yes, that’s right), or the romantic interest who is all set to compete for the most vapid, vacuous female character (Ananya Panday) in recent times, or a mother who roars louder than her son?

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing more pleasurable than a masala movie done right. But there’s nothing new or fresh about the ingredients that go into the making of this film: mixed martial arts, snarling boxers, tough-as-nail trainers, and the hero who will pulp everyone single-handedly has been around of years. The plot, filled with all kinds of outlandish situations, is tired; the treatment is jaded. The poking-fun-at-the-guy who stutters is downright distasteful (at one time he’s called a ‘stammering buffoon’ in the English subtitle), and the creation of the leading lady is not just a sexist misfire, it is positively Neanderthal. Who in their right minds will have a female character say, ‘guys look at girls from bottom-up’, AND have the heroine simper at this line? Anyone heard of misogyny?

The action, in the ring, and on a ranch, with well-known real-life MMA artist Mark Anderson, is about the only thing that you stay with. Deverakonda, never too far from his Arjun Reddy character, is all limber and loose-limbed, and makes us watch. But to have a character term his performance as ‘full paisa-vasool’? Basically, that’s ‘Liger’ high-fiving ‘Liger’. Seriously?