A buzz has been doing the rounds of social media recently that Karan Johar and Dharma Productions are negotiating with a major OTT platform for the streaming rights of Liger. The movie is an upcoming pan-India film starring the Arjun Reddy star, Vijay Deverakonda. However, a source aware of the development has made it very clear that the buzz is totally false.
Helmed by Puri Jagannadh of Mahesh Babu-starrer “Pokkiri” fame, Liger stars actor Vijay Deverakonda in the lead. The 32 year old actor will turn into a full-fledged action star as he will be seen playing the role of a boxer who is out to avenge the wrong done to his family. Liger also features Ananya Pandey.
A source close to Karan Johar said, “There is no way Vijay’s debut will go digital. Karan Johar has made the Telugu star a promise that his Bollywood debut would be no less than spectacular. Liger would release only in theatres and on the same level and volume of theatres and screens as Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi.”
While stating that Johar is not opposed to digital releases, the source said, “He is all for it. But content for OTT from Dharma would be very different from the big-screen projects. So no, Liger won’t be released on the streaming platforms although the amount being offered by the digital platform is what a Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan film would normally get.”
Few days back, Vijay also trashed the reports that the movie is heading to a digital platform for its release. The movie is Vijay’s Bollywood debut and it also marks his first collaboration with Ananya.
Liger also stars Ramya Krishna, Ronit Roy and Makarand Deshpande. The bilingual film is being simultaneously shot in Telugu and Hindi. The Hindi version of the movie will be presented by Dharma Productions’ Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta.
The film is slated to be released theatrically in India on September 9 in five languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
