Vijay Deverakonda has become arrogant, says theatre owner after his ‘dekh lenge’ remark on Liger boycott trend

Days after actor Vijay Deverakonda commented ‘kaun rokenge dekh lenge (who will stop, we will see)’ over the boycott trend on his film Liger, executive director of Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir Cinema Manoj Desai criticised him. In a new interview, Manoj called him ‘arrogant’ and asked why he needed to show ‘smartness’. He also cited examples of how the latest films of Aamir Khan, Taapsee Pannu and Akshay Kumar crashed at the box office. (Also Read | Vijay Deverakonda says ‘kaun rokenge, dekh lenge’ after ‘Boycott Liger’ trends)

Taapsee Pannu’s Dobaaraa collected around ₹2.5 crore in its opening weekend. The film released in theatres on August 19. Aamir Khan’s film Laal Singh Chaddha on its second weekend managed to collect just ₹4.65 crore in India. Akshay Kumar’s film Raksha Bandhan made ₹4 crore during the same time period. Both the films released in theatres on August 11.

Speaking with Filmi Fever, Manoj said, “Mr Vijay, you have become arrogant, ‘Watch the movie or if you don’t wish to then don’t watch’. If the audience will not watch, what has the situation of Taapsee Pannu become? What are Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan going through? You also want your… Why don’t you work in OTT? Work in good serials in Tamil, Telugu, and OTT platforms, and leave the theatre. ‘Boycott our film’, why are you showing smartness? People won’t even watch on OTT. Such behaviour of yours is creating trouble in advance bookings of our theatres. Mr Vijay, you are anaconda not ‘Konda Konda’. You are talking like an anaconda. ‘Vinaash kaale vipareet buddhi (when the time of destruction inches closer, the mind stops working), and you are doing that.”

He also added, “Why are you saying all this nonsense? Taapsee did the same and look at her situation. Now, you are doing? Are you feeling good about it?… I had high expectations from the movie, but such statements during the interview have harsh impacts…Don’t go to hashtags, in the end, you will only regret it.”

Earlier this week, Vijay said about Liger, as quoted by news agency ANI, “We’ve put our heart into making this film. And I believe that I am correct. I feel that there is no room for fear, when I had nothing, I didn’t fear, and now after having achieved something, I don’t think there needs to be any fear even now. Maa ka aashirwaad hai, Logon ka pyaar hai, Bhagwaan ka haath hai, andar aag hai, Kaun rokenge dekh lenge (We have mother’s blessings, people’s love, God’s support, a fire inside us, we will see who will stop us)!”

Liger marks Vijay’s debut in Hindi cinema. The sports drama also features Ananya Panday in her first multi-lingual film. Directed by Puri Jagannadh, Liger’s Tamil and Telugu versions earned ₹24.5 crore gross worldwide on the first day of release. It released in theatres in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.