New Delhi: Hopes were high from Vijay Deverakonda’s Bollywood debut ‘Liger’ that it will end the dry spell of the Hindi film industry but the film has failed to attract audiences to theatres. The Hindi version has earned Rs 14 crore so far. Liger producer Charmme Kaur has spoken about back-to-back box office failures in Bollywood.
When asked about the dismal performance of Hindi films at the box office, the producer told Free Press Journal, “People have access to better content in one click just by sitting at home. The whole family can watch the biggest budget films on television, and until you don’t really excite them, they aren’t coming to the theatres. But, this is not the case in Bollywood. In August, three Telugu films - Bimbisara, Sita Ramam, and Karthikeya 2 - did phenomenally well, which made Rs. 150–170 crores. It happened in the same country. It is difficult to understand since it doesn’t mean people in the South are crazy for films. It is a scary and depressing situation.”
Charmee also spoke about the hurdle they faced and why ‘Liger’ was delayed. “We started the first schedule of Liger in January 2020, we met Karan Johar in 2019, and it has come out in 2022. We held back from coming to theatres for three years as we were extremely confident that Liger was a theatrical release irrespective of the first and second lockdowns, third wave, or theatres opening to 50 percent occupancy. It was our responsibility to let other major films, such as RRR and Pushpa: The Rise, come out first. Then, we lost summer and rain arrived, so we had to release on August 25. We faced constant hurdles, but we never gave up,” Charmme was quoted as saying by Free Press Journal.
'Liger' has been helmed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by Dharma Productions and Puri Connects. This pan-India film also features Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy and Makarand Deshpande.