Puri Jagannadh’s leaked audio call with Liger’s distributors as they threaten to protest goes viral

As a result of this commercial failure, a few months ago, Puri Jagannadh had promised to compensate for the losses made by Liger to the distributors. In a shocking turn of events, a leaked phone conversation between director Puri Jagannadh and distributors has surfaced on Twitter. The Liger’s distributors allegedly threatened to protest against director Puri Jagannadh for not returning their money at his house.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma tweeted an alleged screenshot of a WhatsApp message in Telugu, which reads, “A total of 83 distributors were Liger’s victims. We’re going to Puri Jagannadh house on 27th of this month to do dharna. Therefore, each exhibitor should bring clothes for a minimum of 4 days to stay. If no one dares to come forward, then their names will be removed from the list of beneficiaries and will not be incurred losses. You won’t get a call from us if no one comes that day. And no information will be provided. It would be great if everyone could come.”

Along with the messages, audio of Puri Jagannadh retorting back to distributors for blackmailing him has been circulating like wildfire on social media platforms. The director reportedly said in the call, “Are you blackmailing me? I don’t have to pay anyone back. Unfortunately, they are at loss, so I promised to help them. We have already spoken to the buyers. We said that we fixed an amount. They agreed. We asked for one month’s time. Because I have to get some amount. If you overact like this even after saying that we will support, you will not be provided what we offer. I have nothing to do with exhibitors. We are all gambling here. We are playing poker. Some will play, and some will be lost. Am I asking anyone if I am lost? If the film is a big hit, I have to do many things to collect from the buyers. From ‘Pokiri’ to ‘iSmart Shankar’, I have a lot of money due from buyers. Will the buyers association to collect the amount on my behalf of me?.”

 Reportedly, Vijay Deverakonda returned his fee of Rs 6 crores to the producers after the debacle of Liger.

Liger, which starred Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan and Mike Tyson in lead roles, was released in theatres on August 25, 2022, in five languages and ended up as a disaster at the box office.