Liger weekend box office collection: Vijay Deverakonda film sees drop due to India-Pak cricket match, earns ₹35 crore

Liger box office: Vijay Deverakonda's Bollywood debut suffered on Sunday due to the high-voltage India-Pakistan cricket game and witnessed a drop in collections.

Vijay Deverakonda’s Bollywood debut Liger has not quite performed at the box office as anticipated. After a slow start (on Thursday for the Telugu version and on Friday for the Hindi one), the film failed the crucial Sunday test because of the India-Pakistan cricket encounter on the same day. As per trade sources, the film managed ₹35 crore across India in its opening weekend, a disappointing figure given the film’s scale.

Vijay Deverakonda in a still from Liger. 

Liger, starring Vijay in his Hindi film debut alongside Ananya Panday, was billed as a pan-India film. The Puri Jaggannadh directorial also saw the veteran director make his foray into Hindi films. However, despite the hype and marketing, it saw a slow opening, collecting just over ₹5 crore in Hindi on its opening day. The Telugu version did start strongly but fell by half over the weekend. It was expected that the film can make up for the loss if it recovers on Sunday.

However, it wasn’t to be. Negative reviews and a clash with high profile India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match meant the film could not show the kind of growth it should have on Sunday. As per BoxOfficeIndia.com, the film’s Hindi version earned ₹3.75 crore on Sunday, a drop of over 12% from Saturday. As per the report, the drop was due to the cricket match.

As per trade sources, outside the Hindi belt too, the film suffered on account of the high-voltage sporting clash, reaching a figure of ₹35 crore across India. Adding the ₹20 crore it has earned globally, the film barely managed to cross the ₹50-crore mark in four days.

The pan-India film stars Vijay as a mixed-martial arts boxer with a stutter, Ananya as his girlfriend, and Ramya Krishnan as his mother. It was released in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam. The film is backed by Puri Jagannadh and Charmme Kaur's banner Puri Connects and Karan Johar-led Dharma Productions.