Vijay Deverakonda says ‘I didn’t want to be here’ in emotional speech at SIIMA 2022 post Liger failure. Watch

Vijay Deverakonda got emotional as he received an award at the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) 2022. He addressed the poor performance of his latest release, Liger and said that he didn’t want to attend the event but still did. The actor took home the Youth icon of South Indian cinema (male) award at the event. Also read: Rashmika Mandanna says Vijay Deverakonda is always there for her

Vijay walked the red carpet at SIIMA in a black bandhgala suit with a bird motif. Wearing sunglasses as he took to the stage to receive his award, Vijay said, “We all have good days. We all have not so good days. We all have shi**y days. But irrespective of how we feel, we need to get up. I promise to you…may be actually I didn’t want to be here taking this award but I came here. As I speak to you, I promise to you I will get the job done for all of you. You will be entertained. Great cinema will be made. Thank you all. Its such an honour to be here.”

A Twitter user shared a clip of his speech and captioned it, “I can feel his pain.” Another wrote, “Might liger failed at Box office but his dedication toward cinema, won lots of appreciation from every fan.” A fan also wrote, “one failure is not a matter, please stay away from cringes, you have a unique style, do movies to explore it, bounce back.” A comment also read, “Good day’s on the way, @TheDeverakonda anna Past is past… Strong come back with #Kushi From #dhfm. All the best.”

Led by Vijay Deverakonda, Liger released in theatres on August 25 in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam to mixed reviews. At the box office, the film opened at an impressive ₹33 crore worldwide but was unable to maintain momentum, managing only ₹76 crore globally. Liger also stars Ananya Pandey and Ramya Krishnan in pivotal roles with a cameo by former boxing world champion Mike Tyson. It was directed by Puri Jagannadh and co-produced by him, Charmme Kaur and Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.

Soon after the film’s poor performance in theatres, Charmme Kaur announced a hiatus from social media. “Chill guys! Just taking a break ( from social media ) @PuriConnects will bounce back. Bigger and Better… until then, Live and let Live (sic),” she tweeted before bidding goodbye.

Vijay will next be seen in Shiva Nirvana directorial, Kushi. The romantic comedy stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu as the female lead. It is scheduled to release on December 23.