You're doing a film with Akshay sir, is that true?
okay that reaction
everything but as long as we call it with love it's fine
Both are very overdramatic Taniya and her
Today I feel like eating idli or having chai [tea] I felt like wearing chappal
I wore it and go
when I don't feel like it I'll wear something else so
So I said nice, I love the mother more
Who according to you is the lion and the tiger of the Indian film Industry
if you have to say
Hi, guys this is Himesh and welcome to Pinkvilla
Today we have with us the team of Liger Welcome to Pinkvilla guys
It's lovely having you here
Thank you Thank you Himesh
The first question is to all 3 of you how did you all react when you heard the title Liger
it's quite unusual because you know no one can think of this name
so how did, how was the title decided and how did the 3 of you react to this title
I had fun whenever Puri sir told me the title and told me the concept behind it
my mom is like one tigress and my dad in the film is called lion Balram a fighter
non-existent dad but because mom brought me up
I loved the title straight away, I thought it was a fun title
were you involved in deciding it or was it- no no, it was all Puri sir [Vijay]
Ananya-
It was really fun and I love when people ask the reason behind it
and we have to explain it and all, I think it's the fact that
it's such a talking point also it's quite fun
It's been called...
everything but as long as you call it with love, it's fine
And ma'am you?
see while the story was narrated itself, Puri sir was
his name was Liger so he mentioned the story was narrated as liger to me so
and when i asked him what liger was that's when i got to know
what exactly liger was, so I said nice
I love the mother more
But what was that characteristic of of your character, the mother
that got you onboard with this-
the tough one as you can see, a real tough one someone who's quite pushy but
quite loving and caring at the same time
It's an amazing mom's role
in the trailer it's-
hardcore okay hardcore mom, tough love
If I do something wrong I get whacked in the film
even I get scolded 2-3 times
you don't mess with her in the film
Liger is lion plus tiger, we know you are called the liger now
but who according to you is the lion and tiger of the Indian film industry if you have to say
lion and tiger separately because
yeah yeah I'm saying separately
Ananya is very good at this game
I mean for me only, I think of Salman and Shah Rukh when I think of this
Salman sir and Shah Rukh sir
tiger is Salman sir and lion is- like I'm saying-
Yeah...
Okay and Vijay according to you
Chiranjeevi and Rajnikant
wow that is not
Now Ramya ma'am
I would say Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikant
actually, that so basically 3 different lions and tigers we have
yes and that reminds me, you met Salman Khan on the set of a film
how was that interaction with Chiranjeevi sir and Salman like over there?
Chiranjeevi sir has been
has been someone I looked up to growing up my dad used to
tell his example of how he came from nothing and became
the mega star of Telegu cinema
So I always enjoy interacting with him because we talk a lot about
about his journey and
I love that
that bit about him
his rise is what's interesting to me
and Salman sir it was the first time I was meeting him
it was very brief but I enjoyed seeing him and saying hi
could i believe this is your first film with Puri Jagannath
yes it is
so what got you onboard this film? so how was the association with him
I Just heard the story once and I was in it I was working on his production
prior to this so that's when he narrated the story to me and then
That's it
and Ananya now if you look at your journey so far
you did student of the year which was a campus drama followed by Khali Peeli
which was a thriller, then you did Gehraiya which was a domestic noir
and now this is masala, all 4 fall in the different space
and then there was Pati Patni aur Woh which was comedy
rom-com or comedy whatever you call it
what is it like you know we are not able to find any similarity between the 5-
I don't want you to find any similarities
because exactly, so what is it?
no because I think as an actor and as an audience
I like watching different kinds of cinema I can't even say that this is my favourite kind of genre
this is a character that you know like if anyone asks me what's your dream role
I don't know. Because I want to do everything different
I want to keep reinventing myself
I don't want to put myself in a box and I don't want anyone else
to be able to put me in a box especially right now because I'm still
discovering myself as an actor so yeah
the effort and the
the goal is sort of been to be kind of be different as possible
to learn as much as possible
and Vijay you have completed 11 years as an actor
this is your 11th year, from 2011 to 2022
and 2 of your most memorable performances are Geeta Govindam
3 actually, Geeta Govindam, Taxiwala, and Arjun Reddy
what has been your learning through these 11 years and how do you look at your path ahead after this
I don't know if I learned anything, I guess I've learned to
I guess I've learned to-
no I haven't learned anything man I'm still
what do you mean? something
Not consciously but-
yeah I've learnt a little Hindi in the process learnt a bit of Tamil
I met a lot of people I haven't learnt
I don't know if I've learnt much but
I've learnt to be grateful for the love that's come my way
a little bit I started believing in God I think
I was always spiritual but now I feel like there is someone out there like
planning these things maybe because it feels too much for an individual to do
I'll do what excites me like whatever is fun till I enjoy it I'll do it
when that's done, it's done like till I have fun with this and try
I keep I like doing epic stuff like
for me it needs to feel like epic so in my house there's one big thing
that says 'do epic shit', yeah
so I try and do whatever I feel is epic to me and that's it
that's the way forward that's how it is now and that's it'll be
Ramya ma'am you have had a career spanning decades and
you did Hindi films, you have done Tamil films Telegu films, Kannada film
all the films and you have been pan India much before this
the entire trend started with Bahubali, how do you view the revolution of industries
over the like over your career
I've been working more in the south films so I should rather speak about that
so as far south is concerned the growth is immense
and I'm proud to say pan India happened because of a south Indian film
and it is exciting to be a part of all these pan-Indian films
so now Pan Indian films and yeah and that's how it evolved
Looking back how do you look at you know when Bahubali released
it came as an underdog at least in the Hindi belt
How do you look at it now given that it has opened floodgates for
even a Liger today which is 7 years later
I don't know, I'm still in an awe I'm still looking at it
while working for the film nobody had any idea that you know
this film is going to be or do what it did
Talking about Bahubali yeah
so we had no clue we were just working as in a normal Telegu film
and considering it's Rajamouli, he's one of the best makers
in the country so, yes that way it was big for us
but as a film we didn't know it's going to be this big and
yeah it was just goosebumps after that
Do you guys remember seeing Bahubali first time?
Yeah I had my exam the next day and we went to the theatre my dad and I
I remember before the film, everyone screamed Jay Mahismati
and we all were like whoo it was so much fun
there it must have been next level
it was madness like Bahubali 1 & 2 was madness
but because I was an actor I was just in awe of
this man's and this team's ambition
yeah, even I was also in awe, though being a part of this film when
when I was in the theatre and watching
watching what he had done on screen the magic
it was literally you know every moment electrifying [Ananya]
yeah it was like
Just couldn't believe my eyes though I was a part of this film
and you know then you didn't know if something like this will work
and they all just gave five years to it blindly doing nothing
all the actors like Prabhas, Rana and all of them
and the producers putting that amount of money in a project that you don't know
the Telegu market is not big enough for that
yeah for that budget so they just went all in and
you just have to look at it in an admiration what they've done
and the fact that for me everyone in the theatre had such a community
community viewing experience like everyone was screaming together
reacting together, laughing together, crying together like that's what cinema is
and that's what we've grown up
yeah the euphoria feeling that rush together everyone's feeling the same thing
of course, a collective experience basically
Yeah...
And Ananya you know with regards to your bucket list
who are the directors you want to work with?
There are so many people there's, I really want to work with Rajamouli sir
I want to work with Zoya, I want to work with Karan, Ayan and even also
he's doing a Brahmastra, I'm so excited to see that because I'm hoping
that's also that community experience, and that larger-than-life experience
so there's so many people yeah
I have one that I want to work with Sanjay Leela
Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir, of course
that's fantastic yeah
yes actually that would be a great combo
I just intruded and i had to say that
put it out
in the universe
And Vijay this is your first film in the pan India space and next up is Khusi
which I believe is a bilingual, it's not a pan-India film
so, how is it that you're bifurcating between a film which has to go
across the country and something which has to be a bilingual
is there a move or a strategy behind
It's related to the script and basically Khusi
the entire first half is happening in Kashmir and a lot of humour
comes from me
not knowing Hindi and being in Kashmir and stuff
so it doesn't work if I put it here because if I'm
If I release it in Hindi I'll be a Hindi guy so the
the whole space, the entire first half doesn't work
so for that technical, it's a technical reason that we decided to keep it
only to the southern states, it'll work in any language that's not Hindi or close to Hindi
okay yeah
and Ananya what's next for you after Liger
So, I have Kho Gaye Hum Kahan which I just finished I just wrapped
and that'll come next year and then I have of course, Liger's releasing
and then I have three other things that are going to be announced soon but
I can't talk about it but they are very different from each other
you're doing a film with Akshay sir is that true?
what?
Okay that reaction is a giveaway I would love to [Ananya]
I'm sure you are
and Ramya ma'am, next for you?
next would be Queen 2
the work is going on and then there would be this film with Rajni sir next
okay yeah oh wow that's awesome
well, that's not been announced though we'll start shooting tomorrow
Oh from tomorrow Oh my god [Ananya]
wow, now we have some fan questions for all 3 of you
Okay the first one is for ma'am it's from Akash wagh
He says how do you transform into any character because
whenever we see you on screen it looks very powerful
See, once i listen to the story i know what is
required from me and when they start the camera in action happens
and the words are right everything falls into place
I don't have to do much
Vijay this one is for you, Sukumer sir in an interview said
he's working with you what's the update on that?
Sukumar has to finish Pushpa 2 and post that we'll start work on this
Next one is from Jordan for Ananya
What upcoming movie are you most excited to see this year?
oh upcoming movie that I'm most excited to see
I'm really excited to watch Brahmastra
yeah because I saw that song yesterday and I was blown away by the visuals
I think everyone is looking forward to Brahmastra at the moment
This one is from Vinay Sharma for ma'am,
after the Bahubali series did you, were you offered the same kinds of roles
and do you hate being typecast in a particular space?
I was offered
yes but nothing can be a Bahubali first, nothing else
at least
immediately after and typecast
I never was, thank god for that and
by choice or without a choice luckily it fell into place so I wasn't typecast
So, I think it'll remain that way
Okay this one is from Santosh for Ananya
What was the thing that attracted her towards Liger,
was it the script, the whole package as it brought together Vijay Puri and Dharma?
The whole package, there was Ramya ma'am in it and there was Vijay in it
and there was Puri sir,and I think I enjoyed the narration so much
I couldn't stop laughing and he's such a
I've never met someone who's had such a clear and strong vision about
what he wants to make, he knows exactly where his audience is going to react to what
he is always thinking about the film, he is always thinking how can I do something different
what can I add here, what can I add there so it was such an enjoyable happy film
to shoot that I can't imagine people not having the same experience
while watching it and I could just see the whole film while he was narrating
I feel writing is Puri sir's biggest strength
and his dialogues
and when I heard the story and when he would enact what Vijay had to do
and i don't think anybody else except Vijay could have
given it the kind of his personal touch to it
in a very beautiful way because this is something which can go overboard
and be very irritating on screen or it can be really beautiful like
how he has done it
yes absolutely
and one last question for everyone,
this one is from Jasper for Ma'am
How was it working with Shah Rukh Khan in Chahat? Can you please talk about him-
something about him that we probably don't know
He's such a sweetheart
It's been ages since I've seen him one of the most down-to-earth real person
a genuine person and I don't know where he draws his energy from
he's full of energy round the clock
Like I think Ranveer Singh is now
yeah and a lovely person to work with lovely co-star, very understanding
though I was very new then and he was really nice to me
And Vijay this one is for you, there are 2 questions combined
one is from Hirak and one is from Ritik, Hirak, says
what is the inspiration behind the slippers in promotion, they look so cool man
and Ritik says, can we expect a sequel for Liger?
We are thinking of a sequel for Liger but it'll take some
in its due course and slippers? I just felt like it man
it's like a random feeling, today I feel like eating idli or having chai
I felt like wearing chappal, I wore it and
when I don't feel like it I'll wear something else
okay so no thought behind it, it's just like comfortable
it's a feeling yeah
Slippers are a feelings yeah
Slippers are always a feeling
okay and the last one for Ananya,
how is your character in Liger different from all the films that you've done?
She is very very different from how I am as a person also right?
yeah little bit
yeah so
she's very like over the top, she's very dramatic, she's a big trouble maker
and she says it how it is like whatever she's thinking she'll say it
and loves, she's very open and
it seems like you're describing yourself
I know I think I've become her over the years
It's like 'Mumbaikar' full on yeah...
Over dramatic, they both are, Tanya and her
yeah maybe
On that note thank you so much, guys
it was lovely speaking to you all and wish you all the best for Liger
Thank you