Liger - Saala Crossbreed is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language sports action film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu, the film is produced by Dharma Productions and Puri Connects. The film stars Vijay Deverakonda as the titular MMA fighter “Liger” with stammering problem alongside Ananya Panday as his love interest, Ramya Krishna and Ronit Roy in pivotal roles, with American boxer Mike Tyson playing an extended cameo appearance.
The film was announced in 2019, and the title Liger was announced in January 2021. Liger marks the debut for Deverakonda in Hindi cinema and Panday in Telugu cinema. The songs are composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Sunil Kashyap, Jaani, DJ Chetas, Lijo George and Vikram Montrose. Principal photography began in January 2020 and suffered production delays after March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in February 2021 and after some other shooting suspensions in the pandemic, Liger was wrapped up in February 2022.
Liger was released theatrically on 25 August 2022 and was a critical and commercial failure. The film became a box office disaster, with an estimated box office gross of against a budget of to .
Plot
After his father, Lion Balram Agarwal's death, in the MMA National Championship, Sashwath Agarwal aka Liger and his mother Balamani move to Mumbai from Karimnagar. Balamani is determined to turn Liger into a MMA champion and takes him to a coach named Christopher, who trains him. While Liger is on his way to perfection in the sport, he meets a rich young woman, Tanya, and falls in love with her. After learning from her brother Sanju that Liger has a stammering problem, Tanya, apparently embarrassed, leaves him. Liger wins the national championship after getting motivated by the rejection. He moves on to participate in the International Championship, sponsored by Sanju and Tanya's father.
Liger wins every match and moves on to the finals. However, Tanya is kidnapped days before the finals. Upon getting to know of this, Liger confronts Tanya's father. He reveals that he borrowed money from a gangster to set up his business, and remains helpless, as he could not repay the money back to him. After her father reveals that Tanya broke up with Liger so he could focus on his sport and career after his mother chastised her for being a distraction, Liger decides to save Tanya by himself, which ultimately causes him to miss the final match. He stumbles upon the kidnapper, who happens to be Mark Anderson, his lifelong role model and legendary MMA fighter.
Anderson challenges him to a fight to get Tanya back. The fight is live streamed at the MMA final. When Liger is on the verge of losing, he remembers the advice that his mother gave him and defeats Anderson. Impressed by his skills, Anderson takes a picture with Liger and Tanya, and lets them go. As a result of the successful fight, the MMA jury declares the fight between Anderson and Liger as the final match. Liger becomes a MMA World Champion.
Cast
Vijay Deverakonda as Sashwath Agarwal aka Liger, Tanya's love interest and Balram–Balamani's son Mike Tyson as Mark Anderson (extended cameo appearance) Ananya Panday as Tanya Panday, Liger's love interest and Sanju's younger sister Ramya Krishna as Balamani Agarwal, Liger's mother and Balram's widow Ronit Roy as Christopher, Liger's MMA coach Vishu Reddy as Sanju Panday, Tanya's elder brother Ali as Ali Bhai Chunky Panday as Mr. Panday, a businessman and Tanya & Sanju's father Makarand Deshpande as Mallesh, a local thug Getup Srinu as Ganapath, Liger's MMA friend
Production
Pre-production
Vijay Deverakonda who plays a MMA Fighter with a stutter, underwent a dramatic physical transformation for his role and went to Thailand for martial arts training. After Janhvi Kapoor refused the offer due to dates issues, Ananya Panday was cast opposite Deverakonda. The film's score is composed by Mani Sharma. Composer Tanishk Bagchi is also signed for the film. In September 2021, boxer Mike Tyson was signed for an extended cameo, thus making his acting debut in Indian cinema.
Filming
Filming began on 20 January 2020 in Mumbai, with the tentative title Fighter. 40 days of shoot was completed when production was halted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The filming resumed in February 2021. The second schedule was shot in Hyderabad. The filming was delayed again in April 2021 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 lockdown. The cast and crew resumed the shoot in September 2021. In November 2021, the cast and crew went to Las Vegas to shoot the portions with Mike Tyson. The filming was completed in February 2022.